


Escape the Night (Danganronpa V3 version!)

by OwO_all_around



Category: New Dangan Ronpa V3: Everyone's New Semester of Killing
Genre: Escape the Night inspired, Multi, Reader-Interactive, escape room
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2020-02-03
Updated: 2021-02-22
Packaged: 2021-02-28 07:21:22
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence, Major Character Death
Chapters: 42
Words: 97,375
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/22540018
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/OwO_all_around/pseuds/OwO_all_around
Summary: The 53rd class of Hopes Peak Academy is invited to a mysterious masquerade ball. The night that was supposed to be filled with dancing and fun has turned into a deadly sacrificial game full of puzzles and suspicions.NOTE: This is inspired by the Escape the Night series on Youtube! So if you like drama or escape rooms, you'll love this! Also this fic is reader-interactive so y'all will be able to vote (sometimes) and drastically change the surviving chances of everyone! Hope y'all enjoy!
Comments: 298
Kudos: 185





	1. Chapter 0:The Invitation

Shuichi pulled the letter carefully out from the envelope reading the black calligraphy that sprawled the paper:

_ “Dear Shuichi Saihara, _

_ You have been invited to attend a magical masquerade ball exclusive to only the 53rd graduating class of Hope’s Peak Academy.” _

“ _ Before sundown _ ,” 

Himiko read, 

“ _ A black carriage will arrive to pick you up and escort you to the Dark Jewel Ballroom where the ball will be held, but it will only show itself once proven that you do not possess any electronic device.”  _

“Nyeh~ Sounds like powerful black magic is being used!”

“ _ It will be a night that you will never forget. _

_ Sincerely, _

_ Your dearest classmate” _

“Sounds corny…” Ryoma scoffed before stuffing the letter in his bag before heading out to practice.

“Sounds lame!” Kokichi laughed as he collapsed backwards on his bed. “Huh? What’s this?”

He noticed the firey red writing that was sprawled in the corner that only seemed to shine when he brought it directly over the light:

“ _ And perhaps, it might be in your best interest not to attend. _ ”

“Nishishi! Maybe this could be interesting!” he jumped off his bed before sprinting out the door, “Queen! Help me decide what to wear! I have a party to attend!”


	2. Chapter 1.0: Entrances to the Ball

Shuichi stepped out of the carriage to find himself at the feet of a marble staircase of a beautiful ballroom. He adjusted his tie feeling quite uncomfortable in the grandeur outfit. He wasn’t sure whether the pinstripe 3 piece suit was perhaps too formal for the masquerade ball, but his uncle insisted that he should use this opportunity to “woo the ladies” with a nice suit. He gazed upon the glass dome that seemed to shine brightly reflecting amongst the trees and the magnificent lions that stood strong outside of the stained glass doors. Shuichi could hear the light airy tune of a piano inside, before realizing that it was Clare de Lune- Kaede’s signature song to play for her friends.

He walked up the stairs and into the ballroom to find Kiibo, Kirumi, Tsumugi, and Miu crowding around the piano. The moment he approached the group the song was cut abruptly once Kaede saw him:

“Shuichi! You came!” She smiled as she stood up to hug him. Once they broke apart, he found her lavender eyes hidden behind a rose gold mask and the matching frilly dress and gloves that she wore during her concert in Berlin. Since Kaede was the female class representative of her class, it was pretty rare to actually get a moment with her due to the constant leadership meetings and her oversea recitals. She turned her gaze away from him, “Yeah, I already had this in my closet, and it fit the theme of the party, so I figured that I might as well wear it.”

“Well, it looks… really good on you.” The detective could feel a burning blush from behind his gold mask and wondered why the room felt stuffier than before. 

“So are you two virgins going to fuck or are you going to acknowledge the rest of us?” Shuichi quickly averted to Miu who was wearing a leather black bunny mask. He couldn’t tell whether she looked like a dominatrix porn star or a high-end escort as she wore matching leather gloves, thigh-high boots, and a skimpy one-piece corsetted suit that had sheer light pink fabric flowing down her legs.

“You mustn’t make such crude assumptions, Miss Iruma. I’m sure Saihara is simply just courting Akamatsu,” Kirumi smiled teasing in her own polite way. She was wearing a simple black gothic dress that seemed to consist of mostly lace where a veil-like mask shrouded her face. Saihara noticed that the veil was attached to a crown of purple roses that was adorned on her head.

“He’s not flirting with me!” Kaede blurted, “He’s just… giving me a compliment?”

“I don’t know about that,” Kiibo commented, “Cause he hasn’t complimented anyone else here yet.”

“Alright then! Kiibo, I like your…” Saihara looked up and down the robot’s body realizing that he looked exactly like he does every day at school. He peered closer to find the small design of a metal tie under his robotic collar and the tiny circular glasses that were sitting on his face “tie and glasses.” The robot brightened at his observation:

“Thank you very much, Saihara! No one else seemed to notice the Formal Mode my creator worked hard on to give me!”

“Worked hard?” Miu scoffed, “The SHSL Robot Maker worked harder on jacking off to Wall-E than working on your Formal Mode!”

Shuichi watched awkwardly from the sidelines as the robot and inventor argued with one another when he felt a tap on his shoulder. He turned around to find Tsumugi behind him,

“I think you look quite handsome in your suit,” she smiled, “I think the dark blue suit makes you look like you belong in an Ace Attorney game.”

“Oh! Uh… Thanks?” Saihara replied despite not knowing what Ace Attorney was. He looked at the velvet green dress that the cosplayer was wearing and how it seemed to cling tight to her body yet flowed into a high low skirt. He did his best to not pay attention to the diamond cut out around her chest by looking at the golden snakes on her velvet green mask, “You know, Tsumugi, I was expecting to see you in some kind of cosplay. You look really good… and different than how you normally look.”

The cosplayer giggled, “Really? Thank you so much! But I’m actually doing a more casual cosplay this time! I recently revisited the inner witch inside me and decided to show my house pride!” She spun around to show him the low cut in the back of her dress that would’ve exposed her entirely if not for the golden snake that rested on her spine, “I don’t think plain old me would be able to pull off a regular dress!” 

“Really? I think you would look great otherwise,” the two turned around to find the class’s resident pretty boy and male class representative approaching them holding a drink in his hand. He was wearing a grey blazer and a low cut button-up that exposed parts of his defined chest. Shuichi could even notice the designer brand gold watch on his wrist.

“Rantaro! I didn’t think you would attend!” Tsumugi exclaimed. Shuichi was surprised himself. Since the start of the winter semester, the SHSL Adventurer was absent due to an anonymous tip saying that his 5th sister was somewhere in South America.

“Well, I was around the area so I thought I should pop by,” he shrugged before looking around the ballroom, “Anyways, it seems that everyone isn’t here yet. I’ve been trying to find someone to talk to, and Tsumugi that anime you recommended to me was pretty good. It really helped the 14 hour flight go by really fast.”

Shuichi was drowned out by the conversation as the two talked about some kind of anime he didn’t understand. He directed his attention over to the punch where he found Tenko, Angie, and Himiko chatting about something with a serious look on their faces:

“Nyeh~ I felt it too! I can feel some black magic being performed here!” Himiko exclaimed bunching the sparkly red fabric of her dress in her hands,

“Then it’s a good thing Atua made sure to warn Angie beforehand. Which is why Angie wore her people’s protective charms to the party!” She showed off her necklace that seemed to be a wooden figure of somebody that looked quite handsome. 

“I don’t know if I feel anything bad in the air, but I’m sure it’s because of a degenerate male,” Tenko said while eyeing Korekiyo suspiciously across the room as he was talking to Gonta, “You never know what those degenerates are up to… You’ll never know when one will sneak up behind and attack!”

“Hey, what are you guys talking abou-! WOAH!” Shuichi found himself being flung forwards and aggressively to the floor. He could see the startled expressions of the three girls as they stared at his fallen state.

“See? I always said those degenerates will always try to prey on vulnerable girls,” the aikido master wrinkled her nose at him in disgust. Shuichi brought himself to his feet and rubbed at his sore lower back,

“Sorry about sneaking up on you guys in the first place, but I couldn’t help but overhear that you guys think that there’s something evil going on in this place?”

“Oh! Did Atua warn you as well?” Angie exclaimed, “He warned me of bad things coming once I got here! But Angie could party all she wants because she knows her God will protect her from all evil!” 

“And what about you Himiko? Why did you come despite knowing that a bad thing is going to happen?”

“Nyeh~ Even the worst of dark magic can’t hurt a mage like me! I’ll easily overpower any dark magician’s evil curse!” 

“Curse, you say? Funny that you would say that…” They all looked at Korekiyo who was slowly walking over to them. He had his normal half mask on yet was wearing a completely black suit that made him look almost like a gothic butler, “In fact, this building we are all standing in is most likely haunted.”

“H-Haunted? What do you mean?” Tenko asked,

“Well, there’s a legend that this ballroom used to be a very popular spot for aristocrats to hold their parties. No one really knew why those aristocrats needed a separate ballroom for themselves, but it is rumored that those aristocrats performed all sorts of witchcraft for their entertainment to the point where the darkness consumed them and their souls remain trapped here in this ballroom forever in an untouchable space. They now watch as shadows restlessly looking into the outside world in hopes to escape.”

“Hahaha… But that’s all rumors, right?” Shuichi awkwardly laughed. The detective was hardly a superstitious guy, but the thought of it still gave him chills because if what Korekiyo was saying was true and if the place was really full of bad energy just like Himiko and Angie said, why the hell were they here having a party here? 

He excused himself from the conversation finding himself wandering once more among the ballroom, needing to talk to someone who could help lighten the mood a little bit when the front door of the ballroom slammed open:

“Helllloooooo everybody!!!” Shuichi could barely look at Kokichi as he sauntered into the room. His worry about being too overly dressed seemed to be silly as he stared at the SHSL Supreme Leader’s completely white suit. The exaggeration of the hanging coattails, the big billowing checkered bow tie, the giant purple jewel sitting on top of a silver cane, and the equally as dramatic top hat and mask almost made Shuichi wonder if he was really experiencing this in reality or if he was in a messed up dream with a demon ballroom and an overly dressed child. He watched as Kokichi strode over to him:

“So how do you like my outfit?” he asked, waggling his eyebrows in hopes to get a reaction out of the detective.

“You look… great…” 

“You know I could tell you’re lying to me…” he pouted, almost on the brink of tears, “WWWAAAAAHHHH!!! SHUICHI IS SO MEAN!!! HE THINKS I LOOK UGLY!!! But I’m not surprised,” the leader quickly reverted back to his normal shit-eating grin, “With a suit like that, I’d understand if you don’t get true fashion!” Kokichi quickly averted his attention around the room, already seemingly bored with his facade, “Anyways what’s with this party? It seems soooo boring!”

“Well, everyone really isn’t here yet, so the party can’t really start yet… Speaking of which, have you seen Kaito by any chance?”

Kokichi pouted once more which made Shuichi afraid that he was gonna cause a ruckus once again, “I’m talking to you right now, and all you want to do is find that space-obsessed idiot? But if you’re really looking for him,” he once again gave another shit-eating grin, “I think I saw him at the bottom of the stairway.” 

Another slam of the door could be heard as Kaito stormed into the ballroom with Maki following close behind,

“Kokichi! You little shit!” 

“Shuichi! Help! The ape is going to kill me!” Kokichi exclaimed as he hid behind the detective’s back.

Shuichi placed his hands in front of the astronaut who was just about ready to wring the little leader’s neck,

“Kokichi! What did you do this time to get him so mad?”

“Nothing! I promise!” he lied,

“You want to know what that little shit did? He pushed me down the stairs!” Kaito yelled,

“I did not!” Kokichi yelled back, “Shuichi, you believe me right?”

“Shuichi, you should know already that he’s lying- like he always does.” Maki said with a threatening glare. Shuichi felt his blood go cold and for a moment he was unsure if Kaito would get to Kokichi first.

“Hey! Maybe we could settle down over some punch, yeah? I’m sure we’re all a little bit thirsty. Maki, you come too,” he led a still fuming Kaito and Maki over to the punch table thus saving Kokichi’s ass once again.

“God, that guy pisses me off,” Kaito said as he loosened his tie, “Why can’t he just act normal for once and not like a fucking gremlin every time I see him?”

“What makes you think that he’s a person in the first place?” Maki added, sipping her cup as she glared at the ground. Shuichi awkwardly drank out of his cup, not really sure how to respond to their anger. Out of the corner of his eye, he saw Kaito look at him remorsefully before the astronaut came over and slung an arm around his shoulder,

“Hey, no need to look so glum! Thanks for separating us from Kokichi or else we would’ve been sour the entire time!” He took Maki by the hip and brought her closer to him, “So, Saihara, how do we look? Do we look cool or what?”

The astronaut was wearing a regular plum-colored suit but wore it with his trademark-arm-out-of-one-sleeve which showed that the inner lining had a sparkly galaxy pattern inside. His mask was a silvery crescent moon on the left side of his face. Shuichi thought that he would’ve looked really formal if not for the fact that he was wearing black sneakers alongside it. 

His partner was looking more elegant as her hair was brought back in a braided bun. Her long and sleek dress consisted of the same fabric as Kaito’s inner lining, but was a fiery red color instead. And to pair with Kaito once more, her mask was of a gold sun that covered the upper portion of her face. Shuichi could say that her face was almost the same color as her dress as she blushed intensely from the close physical contact. She quickly took Kaito’s hand away from her hip and instead chose to hold his hand within hers.

“You guys look really good together!” Shuichi commented, “So, how’s your guy’s summer been going?” 

“It’s been going really well!” Kaito laughed, “We visited a planetarium actually a few months ago and an observatory right afterward!”

“Do you guys do anything other than go on space dates?”

“Hey, there’s nothing more romantic than you, the person you love, and the moon.”

Maki, without her pigtails to mess around with, ended up swirling the bit of hair that was left out of her bun: “I don’t mind it at all. It’s nice to forget about everything when you’re surrounded by stars.”

The detective nodded. He understood that once the two started dating life became a lot more hectic for Maki. It was one thing to put aside time for someone instead of work, but it was another to be in a relationship with someone who was considered to be very close to the government and the army. Yet the two were determined to stay together, and last, the detective heard they were figuring out how Maki could leave her murderous life behind without any harm to herself nor the orphanage she lived in. It was no wonder that they were considered the star-crossed lovers of Hopes Peak Academy.

Kaito, still holding Maki’s hand, looked around: “Seems that the party scene is pretty dull. No decorations, no music, who even planned this party?” 

“I don’t know. They didn’t say in the invitation. Perhaps they assumed that Kaede was going to play the piano the entire time.” Maki added, “I haven’t been to a lot of parties myself, but I got to say that this is pretty du-! What the hell is Gonta doing?”

The two boys looked at the entomologist’s direction who was squatting (almost lying down) underneath a wall-sized painting of a dining room filled with people with his face smashed against the wall. They walked over to him:

“Gonta... What are you doing?” Shuichi asked concerned. He wouldn’t be surprised if Gonta had seen a bug and was trying to observe it closer.

“Ah! Hello Shuichi! Gonta was drinking some punch when Gonta dropped his drink!” Gonta answered back now getting up to his feet and rising way above the trio, “Gonta couldn’t just leave the floor dirty! Gentlemen never leave a mess! So when Gonta went to clean the spill, Gonta found a hole behind the painting! Gonta thinks he can see something from behind the painting!” 

“What did you see?” Kaito asked,

“Gonta does not know! Painting is too much in the way, and Gonta cannot see!”

“Have you tried moving the painting?” Maki asked. 

“Ah! Gonta did not think about that!” Gonta exclaimed. He went to lift the large painting off the wall. Shuichi looked around the room. Apparently Gonta’s odd behavior had attracted some attention from their classmates who were now starting to come to see what all the noise had been about. In the emptiness of the wall was a small hole that contained a note. Shuichi went to grab the note as his classmates behind him all yelled at him to read it out loud,

“Followeth and draweth the figure below using ash and 5 dark candles then speaketh the ritual w'rds below to starteth the true party. ” The figure below the scraggly writing showed a pentagram with 5 black candles on each spoke of the pentagram and underneath in dark red writing seemed to be some sort of jargon that Shuichi couldn’t understand. 

“What the hell is this shit?” Miu exclaimed. She snatched the paper from the detective’s hands, “Hey, Kinky Bastard. Is this your fucking fap material?” 

Korekiyo stared unamused at the inventor before taking the paper into his own hands, 

“Unfortunately not, but it seems that this is the writing of Sir John Pullock, one of the disappearing members of the Dark Society that performed rituals here. I’ve read several of his documents before his disappearance and this handwriting seems to match his. I wonder what this paper is doing here? Especially considering that this paper should have been lost due to deterioration.”

Whispers scattered among the class. No one knew whether the paper was a joke or not, but it felt a stirring uneasiness in Shuichi’s stomach as questions shot in his mind. Why was there a mysterious note in the wall? Why did they decide to have a party in a place that should be considered missing? And who invited them in the first place? The detective was lost in his thoughts before a voice piped up, 

“Why don’t we try it?” Everybody turned around to face the male class representative. Rantaro shrugged his shoulders, “Doesn’t it say that the true party will start when we do this ritual? It’s all probably the theme of the party. Plus this could just be a reality TV party that we all could’ve been invited to.” 

Shuichi thought about it and somehow everything made sense. Since everyone was considered famous to some extent at Hope’s Peak Academy, it wasn’t odd that whole classes were chosen to participate in reality TV shows. In fact, the school’s seniors flew all the way to America to be in America’s Next Ninja Warrior. He remembered reading that that particular episode got the most views of the entire show all because the SHSL Model and SHSL Idol was in it. If they were chosen to be in a reality TV show, it made sense for it to be a mystery held at a so-called haunted ballroom. The SHSL Anthropologist would give background/insight of the mystery, the SHSL Detective would guide the group through the mystery, and famous influencers such as Rantaro, Himiko and Tsumugi would attract people to watch. Hell, they even had several people in the class that would constantly create drama to make it more interesting. The detective could feel the tension in the air lighten as the class got enthusiastic once more,

“Oh thank God! I thought this party was never gonna start,” Kokichi laughed,

“So there is no group of people doing magic?” Gonta wondered, being the only person in the room still confused,

“No, you big dummy. It’s all fake! We have to find 5 candles and ash for the real party to start,” Kokichi chided the entomologist,

“Gonta doesn’t get this. How do candles and ash start a party?”

“Your brain is way too small for your head! Gonta, if you find a black candle just say it.”

“Ah, okay! Gonta found a candle!” The entomologist pointed up at the entrance to find a small glass box with a black candle inside. Shuichi seriously wondered why Gonta even bothered with wearing glasses when his vision was so good. Kokichi scampered up Gonta’s shoulders and lead the big guy towards the glass box,

“What the-? There’s a lock? That’s lame,” He jumped off Gonta’s back looking disappointed, “It seems that we gotta find a 4 number code to open the thing.” He started leaving the ballroom,

“Where are you going?” the detective asked,

“Duh, I’m going to find clues. I’m so bored that I’m going to die! C’mon Gonta. Let’s see if your X-ray vision can find something else!” And with that, both the Entomologist and Supreme Leader left the room.

“I guess we should all do the same and find all of the items,” Rantaro said, “Let’s split up in groups and then come back here once we have all of the items.”

Everyone quickly got into groups. Kirumi ended up leaving the room with Ryoma. Kaito and Maki left by themselves. Tenko insisted that Himiko should stay with her as Angie tagged along. Korekiyo went on his own while Miu dragged Kiibo out with her. Shuichi went to go ask Kaede if she wanted to go explore with him when Rantaro walked up to her first,

“Hey Kaede. Do you want to go exploring with me?”

“Uh, sure. Why not?”

Shuichi watched as the Pianist joined Rantaro by his side and saw the uneasy expression on her face as the two walked out of the ballroom together. Shuichi could feel some sort of ache in his heart as he felt a tap from behind. He turned around to find Tsumugi,

“I guess it’s just us left to go exploring!” 

“Yeah, I guess.” 

“Do you want to look around this room? Maybe there’s some more clues and plain old me won’t be able to find them myself!”

“Yeah sure. In fact, I actually want to look at that lock that Kokichi was looking at,”

They walked over to the glass box that seemed so tall now without the class giant standing right next to it,

“How are we going to get all the way up there?” Tsumugi wondered out loud,

“Hmmm,” Shuichi thought before getting on the ground, “Hey, why not get on my shoulders? If you stand, you’ll probably reach the glass box.” 

“Ah, you’re right! You’re so smart, Shuichi!” The cosplayer exclaimed. She pulled up her dress as she awkwardly put her feet on the detective’s shoulders and leaned against the wall for support. 

“Alright, I’m going to stand up now. Are you good?” Tsumugi nodded as the detective shakily stood up slowly. Having someone stand on his shoulders was much tougher than he imagined, “Can you reach it?” he called,

“Yup! I found 4 symbols on the side of the box! It seems to be 4 different crests! The first is a lion, the second is a raven, then it’s a dragon, and then a boar!” 

“Okay, that’s great! I’m going to let you down now!” Shuichi awkwardly let Tsumugi off his shoulders as he balanced himself,

“This is so cool! It really seems like we entered a game!” She squealed, “I wonder what those four animals mean?”

Shuichi wondered if those 4 animals had something to do with each other when his eyes made contact with the picture that Gonta let down earlier. He made his way over when he pointed to a Victorian lady who had an emerald necklace with a raven on it,

“Hey, Tsumugi. Did the crest you saw look like this?”

“Yeah, it did! In fact, the man she’s with is actually wearing the boar crest!”

Shuichi took another good look at the painting and realized that every single person in the painting had some kind of crest of either the lion, raven, dragon, or boar. An idea clicked in his head,

“Tsumugi, help me count each of every crest. I’ll count the lions and ravens. You count the people with dragons and boars.”

Together, they silently counted each and every patron in the picture. Shuichi ended up counting 3 people with lion crests and 7 people with raven crests while Tsumugi counted 9 people wearing the dragon crest and 1 person with the boar. 

Tsumugi and Shuichi walked up to the glass box and once again Tsumugi awkwardly climbed on top of Shuichi’s shoulders.

“3-7-9-1… It worked! I got the candle, Shuichi!”

“That’s great, Tsumugi! But can you please not press down? Your sandals are digging into my neck,” The cosplayer apologized as she stepped off him, “We should probably tell the others that we found it.”

The two left the ballroom together to find Miu, Kiibo, Angie, and Tenko crowding around a golden pedestal that was supposed to hold the vase that Himiko had in her lap as she lazily sat beside the group,

“Turn the knob to 4 o’ clock! It makes sense that 14:00 is 4 o’clock!” Tenko yelled,

“I am doing what Atua tells me to do! And Atua says it should be around 2 o’ clock! Do you dare question God?”

“I’m not questioning your God,” Tenko explained, “But this is something that should be obvious!”

“Can you two idiots stop fucking yapping? I’m getting a headache listening to your bitching? Just try it both ways!” 

Miu pushed the two girls aside taking the puzzle herself. She turned the knob to the 4 o’ clock position. When nothing happened, Tenko turned her head away in embarrassment as Angie cheered in delight as a small compartment holding a candle revealed itself when the knob was turned to the 2 o’ clock position.

“See, Tenko? This is why you should never question God’s will. But if you ever wish to repent, I’m sure that Atua will accept your apologies as he is a kind and forgiving God.”

Everyone in the room can see the aikido master’s discomfort as she stammered out an apology: “I-I’m sorry for holding everyone back and I’m sorry, Angie, for fighting with you…”

There was a moment of silence as Angie thought about her apology, “Atua says… That he forgives you! Now everyone! Let’s stay in the ballroom and wait for everyone else as he has found our candle!”

Her outburst woke up Himiko who had dropped the vase in her hands, “Nyeh~ Is it time to go home already?”

“Nonsense, Himiko! The party has only started! Come on!” She pulled Himiko to her feet as she dragged her to the ballroom with the rest of the party, leaving only Tenko along with Shuichi and Tsumugi. Shuichi could see that Tenko was bunching her dress in her hands as she looked down angrily,

“Hey, are you okay Tenko?” Shuichi asked. He would’ve gone over and put a hand on her shoulder, but he was pretty sure that being touched (especially by a male) was the last thing that would’ve comforted her,

“I… Am alright.” Tenko said, “I just wish Angie wasn’t so condescending about it, but I’ll be fine. We should find the others and tell them about what we found. I’ll be good as new then!”

“Alright then. Let’s go.” Shuichi said. 

They took the left wing to find themselves traveling down a hall where on one side held mysterious pictures of Victorian men and women while the other side was made of glass windows that displayed the beautiful garden down below. As they were walking down, they found Rantaro and Kaede leading the rest of the class towards them,

“Oh hey! Did you guys find the last two remaining candles?” Kaede asked enthusiastically, “We already found everything else, so we can get started.”

“Yeah. Tsumugi and I found the first candle in the ballroom while Miu, Angie, Tenko, Himiko, and Kiibo found the other.”

“Sounds great! Let’s all gather in the ballroom!”

The detective, cosplayer, and aikido master joined the group as everyone shared with one another with the puzzles that they solved. Apparently, Gonta and Kokichi had to pull out certain books in a bookshelf to find a candle. Kaito and Maki had to figure out some sort of secret language to get another one. Korekiyo, Hoshi, and Kirumi together found the ashes while Rantaro and Kaede had to rearrange photos to get another candle. Shuichi ended up gazing into the garden as Rantaro jokingly teased Kaede when she freaked out when a cabinet opened and revealed the candle.

Once they regrouped inside the ballroom, Rantaro (with major help with Korekiyo) lead the class into making the seance circle and the placement of the candles,

“Alright. I think this is right. Everyone take a seat around the circle while Korekiyo says the words of the seance. Ready, dude?"

Korekiyo nodded as he read off the paper: " **Est in nobis ponere circulus inclinaret, acciri in atrio nigrum.”**

Some people of the group screamed as the lights flickered inside the ballroom. Shuichi could feel his eardrums being destroyed by how loud Kaito was screaming. When the lights went back to normal, Shuichi could see that the walls were scorched with a burning message that he could not read. The only one who didn’t seem to be freaked out was Korekiyo who was more in awe than in fear, but soon he went back to his calm demeanor.

“How interesting. It seems that the spirits are asking for two people to be put inside the circle, to play what I can assume is a game, but they say that we as a class must choose who goes inside.”

“What’s going to happen to them!” screamed Kaito who was holding himself tightly against Maki, “Are the demons going to kill them?”

“Uh… Kaito. Don’t forget that this isn’t real. It’s all movie magic,” Maki said as she squirmed in his grasp,

“Neeheehee, isn’t it obvious that this is just like every single elimination show?” Kokichi laughed, “Just for fun, I vote Kaito to go in the circle!”

“You little shit! Then I vote Kokichi!” he screamed out. 

The whole class started teasing and laughing to each other about who they were going to vote for when Korekiyo (who was looking more than annoyed) said out loud:

“Unfortunately, that’s not how the voting works. You can’t just yell who you vote for. In fact,” he walked over to the bar where he pulled out a small black box, “Apparently there are cards in this box that has all of our names and faces. We will all go up one-by-one and vote for 1 person to go in, then I will shuffle the cards and pick 2 random cards and those people will go into the circle and play this so-called game. I will go first.”

He picked up a card and put it in his hand, and then on, he continued to call people up to vote in. As people were going up, he looked to the other side of the circle to find Rantaro teasing Kaede about putting her name in the box who was laughing along. He could feel something pull at his heart but he wasn’t sure what it was. 

“Shuichi, it’s your turn to vote,” Korekiyo stated.

The detective pulled himself on his feet and made his way to the bar. He saw his own card, one that had a drawing of him in his detective uniform holding a magnifying glass and the title “The Detective” written underneath. He found himself in the deep darkness of his mind wondering one question: Who do I pick?

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> IT'S VOTING TIME!
> 
> If you want your vote to count, please use this link! https://linkto.run/p/X52VQEG4 
> 
> If you don't, your vote does not count! Also keep in mind that the person who got the most votes will be Shuichi's answer, but that does not mean that person goes in the game! In the fic, every student's answer is a ticket in a lottery and whose name gets chosen will go into the game! 
> 
> Also, not all chapters/games will have voting polls in it!
> 
> So hopefully, none of y'all get attached to any of the characters!


	3. Chapter 1.5: Shadow Ball

Shuichi glided his hands over the cards of his friend:

His hand stopped over [The Anthropologist] card. Surely out of everyone in this room, he was the most suspicious. How convenient is it that he's running this game and that he knew the history of this lost ballroom? He glanced upward to find the Anthropologist himself staring intensely at his decision. Shuichi quickly brought his hand down and moved on,

He stopped once again at [The Inventor] card. She was the farthest from suspicious, but in truth, she made him really uncomfortable. But is that any reason to vote for her? Perhaps not.

He glanced at [The Cosplayer] card. She was the perhaps the person he hung out the most tonight. She helped him get a candle! But still, he couldn't help that her airheaded manner was somehow forced perhaps it could be an act. But, nonetheless, it still wasn't any justification to vote her in.

_Agrhhh! I need to choose someone, but I don't want to vote for anyone! Perhaps, I should just vote for mysel-._

At the edge of the table, he saw the green [The Adventurer] card. Staring down at Rantaro's stern yet handsome face as he made his way into a forest made him remember that he had a better bond with Kaede than he did. He found himself picking up [The Adventurer] card and placing it in Korekiyo's hand.

Making his way back to his seat, he found himself having to gather his breath. Why did it seem like he had a hand in something evil? He glanced over Rantaro's way and watched him chat happily to Angie.

_No. Calm down, Shuichi. This is nothing, but a stupid game show. Nothing is going to happen to him._

But still, he couldn't shake the feeling of inevitable doom. 

“Alright. Did everyone vote? It’s time to see who goes inside the circle,” Everyone watched as Korekiyo shuffled the deck and picked out a random card, “Himiko. You are one of the chosen to go into the circle.”

“What? Why? Who chose me?” She fumed

“Small tits, all you did was sleep the entire night! You did shit!” Miu exclaimed who was followed by nods and agreements from Kiibo, Kirumi, Hoshi, and Korekiyo.

Himiko fumed some more as Tenko reassured her that now she can finally go home and sleep,

“The next person to go inside the circle is,” Shuichi looked around the room. Some people seemed to be hoping not to get picked while others were bouncing in their seat in anticipation, but his eyes once more fell to Kaede who had an expression that Shuichi could not pinpoint what it was, “Angie.”

“Huh? I have been chosen to go into the game?” the artist questioned. She immediately locked eyes with Tenko who seemed to be just as surprised as everyone else, “Oh well! I’m sure that this game is going to be great fun! Himiko, watch out! Angie doesn’t plan to lose!”

“Alright. You two, please step into the circle,” the two girls stepped into the circle unsure of what was to happen, “I’m going to repeat the words, and not only will you guys be taken into the game, but we will also summon the Court of Darkness.”

Kaito’s hand snaked over to Shuichi’s as he clenched it hard. Shuichi now felt bad that Maki had to deal with this paranoia the entire night,

**“Accipe sacrificium nos ipsi nos umbras illas obscuras** ”

Once again, the lights in the room flickered wildly and the ground seemed to also be shaking. He could feel Kaito’s hand grip his even harder, and when Shuichi thought this couldn’t get any worse, the lights cut out completely

...

Angie and Himiko found themselves in a concrete room that was littered with light switches. Around the walls and floors were filled with lightswitches. The girls were separated by a prison bar that divided the already small room into 2 smaller prisons,

“Nyeh~ Angie, I don’t like this? What’s going on?” Himiko shivered as she ran to the bar and met Angie on the other side,

“Do not worry! I’m sure that Atua will protect us!” 

The two girls screamed when the lights started flickering wildly,

“Are you ready for the game to start,” a deep and dark voice resonated. Himiko and Angie looked around the room. There was no one other than them in the room, but there didn’t seem to be any speakers as well.

“Wh-Who said that?” Himiko said, “Show yourself!”

A darkened shadow appeared on the wall. Its silhouette seemed to be of a man in military clothing and big boots. The shadowy figure bowed,

“How rude of me not to introduce myself. My name is John Pullock. You must’ve found my letter about the summoning circle which means that you are the two players here to play the sacrificial game.”

“I don’t want to play anymore! I just want to go home!” Himiko yelled,

“And you will! As long as you just win this game and the rest of the games that are to come!” 

Before Himiko could yell at the shadow some more, Angie interrupted her, 

“What is this game you are talking about,” she brought her face close to the bar and whispered in Himiko’s ear, “If we just win this game, we can escape and run back home. Do not worry. Atua will be watching over us.”

“Ha! Of course! The game! I almost forgot about that! You two have already noticed that this room of yours is surrounded by lightswitches, yes? Well, the objective of this game is to find the light switches that turn off your opponent’s lights. If you manage to turn off all 3 of their lights, then you win and the other will join our society of darkness.”

“Wh-What does that mean? Are we going to die?” Himiko whispered,

“It means, my young girl, that you will become just like us,” The shadowy figures multiplied with many more victorian shadows joining the two girls. Their voices and laughter echoed through the room to make a tangled mess of noise, “We have been craving for entertainment ever since we were trapped in this shadowy dimension that we are sure that you two will entertain us plenty! Now go! For the game starts right now!”

Himiko recoiled from the swarms of laughter surrounding her. She looked up into Angie’s eyes, “Please, Angie. I don’t want to compete with you! I don’t want to play, but I don’t want to die either! Please, stay with me!” 

There was a moment between the magician and the artist before the artist pulled away from her, “Himiko, I’m sure that whatever happens Atua will be forgiving and take us both to heaven.”

The artist ran to the wall flipping as many switches as she could reach as Himiko sat on the floor crying. A light in Himiko’s room blinked out when Angie flipped a switch that was near the bar. She could hear Himiko cry even louder as she continued to flip more dud switches, and soon she saw one of her own lights go out. She turned around to find Himiko on her hands and knees, still crying and trembling profusely, but now flipping switches with some kind of ferocity. 

The two girls continued to flip the switches as the shadows on the wall taunted and laughed at them. They cackled with laughter when Angie’s second light went out. Her room was now much darker than it was before and she was sure she could feel the shadows pulling at her clothes as she ran around the dark room finding switches to flip. She could now hear Himiko giggling quietly to herself in her own room now finding pleasure in the artist’s desperateness,

“Atua… God… If I live through this, I promise I will pray 10 times harder than I do already! I will give you more blood sacrifices! More parties! More of myself! But please guide me through this!” 

Angie could hear the shadows taunting her, but her belief held strong. She continued to pray as she started to use all of her hands and feet to flip the switches finally finding the light switch that turned off Himiko’s second light. She heard the magician scream and cry as the light went out, even going to the point of screaming at the taunting shadows.

The two continued to flip switches, but soon found themselves in a situation where all of the switches were flipped. The only ones left were the taller ones closer to the ceiling. Angie tried jumping to reach them, but couldn’t even get close to even grazing them. She looked through the bar to find Himiko who was having just the same luck as her while grumbling about how stupid this game was. The shadows continued to laugh at her pitiness calling her a crybaby,

“I can’t take this anymore! Just shut up!” 

Himiko took off her red flats and threw it at the shadows hoping to take some kind of damage to them. The flats had done nothing to the jeering shadows, of course, but the flat had landed right on top of a switch before flipping it off. Angie flinched in fear that her light would’ve turned off, but that lone light of hers was still on thankfully. 

She watched Himiko as she finally came to the revelation of using her shoes as a means to turn off the lights and repeatedly started picking up her flat, throwing it at a switch, and hoping that it would turn off. With Himiko’s skill at knife throwing, the magician was scarily turning off switches at an alarming rate. Angie tried to take off her own sandals and throw them at the switches, but it ended up being a much more inefficient means.

“How? How is she so good at this? Atua! Give me the answers! Please help me!” 

She ended up stopping and desperately watching Himiko knock down switches through the bars,

“Through the bars… Atua, you have blessed me with a wonderful idea!” 

She ran to the bars and wiped off her sweaty hands on her dress. If there’s one thing she was sure she was good at, it was climbing trees. Back on her island, she would climb trees to gather coconuts, leaves, mangos, and sometimes branches to either eat or use in her art projects. And now, it could finally benefit her. She had mastered the art of being able to climb a tree and only hold on using one hand and her feet, and so she hoped that she could climb the bar and use the vantage point to throw her shoes and flip the switches.

She climbed the bar thanking that the prison bars were a lot smaller than most trees. She slipped off her first time due to how increasingly nervous and sweaty she was, but had finally made it half way through the second time. Her climbing had finally attracted Himiko’s attention who seemed to pick up the pace even more.

When she had finally gotten to the top, she looked down at Himiko. The girl’s nervousness had disrupted her accuracy and now her throwing had become more frantic than precise. Angie from up above could finally see the true desperateness in Himiko’s face and wonder if God saw this everyday. The struggle of humanity and the despair that is constantly present. It was almost sobering watching her friend cry and scream at everything in the room. It had almost made her want to stop what she was doing, climb down, and let Himiko just finish the game herself. She knew that the girl had a long history of betrayal with her master leaving her alone that Angie knew that if somehow they had both lived Himiko would never look at her the same. She saw the same desperateness in her friend as she saw with the people who would come to her and beg to be saved from some kind of despair. She knew that if she left this room, she would come out bitter and cold. And so, she took it upon herself to end the game and finally end her friend’s suffering and despair.

She looked around her selection and decided to settle with one that was near the corner. This switch had felt right, not because Atua had told her so, but she could just feel that it was right. And so, Angie took off her shoe, took aim, and threw it. The shoe had bounced off the wrong wall before correcting itself and finding its way right on top of the light. 

The moment the light switch was turned off, Himiko’s room became pitch black. Angie fell off the bar and rushed to get as far as possible from Himiko’s side as the shadows from her own side rushed to join the darkness. Angie curled herself in a ball and prayed fervently as she heard the girl on the other side screaming and begging for help. It had seemed like an eternity before the screaming had stopped and when Angie uncurled herself, she found both sides to be completely lit and Himiko gone from the room. In her place, was a small brass key. The artist crawled over to cautiously pick up the key and then stored it in her pocket. She stood up from the ground to find a lightened hallway in her side of the room, and when she left, she swore she could see the shadowy figure of a military man and a cowering magician beside him.


	4. Chapter 1.7: Memories in the Hall

_ “Hmmm… What’s this?” Angie picked up the black ticket that was placed on her desk. Golden words spelling “The Adorable Mage: Himiko Yumeno” faded in and out depending on how the ticket was moved in the light. _

_ “Nyeh~ I was told that I could bring two people to my next performance, and you’re one of the few people in this class that actually believes in magic so you can come if you want to. It’s fine if you don’t go, I know you’re pretty busy doing work and your religious stuff,” Himiko looked to the side nonchalantly, but Angie could see the faint blush on her cheeks,  _

_ “This invitation must be a blessing from Atua! Thank you Himiko! I’m excited to go!”  _

Angie leaned against the hallway. Her stomach was threatening to empty itself by the now bittersweet memory, but she fought back the urge knowing that she would have to face her classmates soon. 

_ “Himiko, that was amazing!” The Artist stepped to the side to let the man wheeling a piranha tank by before rushing over and taking the magician’s hands into her own, “It was almost like seeing Atua himself when you descended from the sky! How did you do that?” _

_ The smaller girl brought the brim of her hat over her face, “Nyeh~ You wouldn’t understand… It’s a very complicated magic spell that only extremely advanced magic users can master.” _

_  
_ _ “Oh Himiko! That was amazing! The set was absolutely magnificent! The set team must’ve worked super dup-” _

_ A flash of blue raced across and pulled Himiko off her feet and into a tight embrace: _

_ “Himiko, that was absolutely amazing!”  _

_ Angie watched as the sobbing brunette girl raved over every single detail of the magician’s show as she buried her face in Himiko’s hair. She didn’t know who the girl was, but she already disliked her a lot. Once the girl lifted her face up for breath, it was then that she realized who the girl was. _

_ “Tenko! I didn’t know you would be here!” Angie exclaimed. She pushed back her bitter feelings to the back of her mind, after all, followers of Atua must be forgiving and carefree.  _

_ Forgiving and carefree… _

_ Forgiving and carefree… _

_ Free from hate… Free from sadness… _

_ Just be… Forgiving… and carefree... _

Angie collapsed to the ground: “A true follower of Atua is forgiving and carefree, but Atua, how can I be forgiving and carefree after what just happened? Have I not been faithful? Why must I go through this struggle? Atua, give me an answer and the strength to continue on!”

Through tears, her mind flitted over back to that same night with Himiko. She remembered the magician’s red cheeks in the snow, the spell that was supposed to make the snow disappear but made it harder, and the “good idea” of getting ice cream over warm brownies. She chuckled a bit as she remembered how Himiko’s face was covered in strawberry ice cream, and that when she offered to wipe the mess with her handkerchief.

_ She took Tenko’s instead. _ Angie got up to her feet,  _ Tenko was the one who voted me in. She was the one who forced me into that game. Tenko never really liked me. She never understood my devotion to Atua, calling it ‘a distraction from all the bad’, and so… She voted me in. _ The artist started briskly walking down the hall, wiping her tears with her arm  _ Atua, I ask of only one selfish plea to give me the strength to give divine retribution to that godless woman. _

She turned the doorknob and pushed through ready to confront the Aikido Master, but she came across a chaotic scene. Everyone was screaming, all fleeing away from the circle that they formed earlier. Angie brought herself closer and could see a small figure in the room, sprawled out as it’s limbs were bent in painful edges and its mouth agape in fear. It wasn’t until she saw the shimmery red fabric of the dress did she feel the same terror as everyone else. 

“H-H-Himiko…“

A crash of thunder boomed overhead, and the lights flickered frantically with a purple glow. Angie watched as some of her classmates headed for the exit, and when the door was flung open, was enveloped by a dark cloud. The cloud started to flood the room, enveloping everyone in the malicious smoke. When the smoke had filled into her lungs, she could barely hear a voice laughing:

“Upupupu… This sounds like the fun start of a new game!”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Sorry for the short chapter! I might post the next chapter/voting sometime this week or around next Tuesday/Wednesday!


	5. Chapter 2.0: The Rules of the Game

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Sorry for the late post! I intended to make this chapter a whole lot longer, but then I realized that it became too long. So expect the voting stage to come soon!

**“You should’ve never entered here”, a sad voice called out,**

“Hello?” He frantically looked around the emptiness, “Who else is there?”

_ “I can feel some black magic being performed here!” _

**“You should’ve never answered the invitation,”**

“Where are you?” He felt fear, but yet he needed to find the origin of the voice; 

_ “Even the worst of dark magic can’t hurt a mage like me! I’ll easily overpower any dark magician’s evil curse!” _

**“And now, I fear that the worst is yet to come.”**

He spots a figure in the darkness, “Please! Come back! Tell me what’s going to happen,”

_ “Angie, please stay with me!” _

**“Shuichi, I’m sorry.”**

The figure disappeared, and in its place was her body. Arms splayed out and contorted, mouth gaping open with fear, and eyes weeping the same color as her dress.

Himiko.

Shuichi bolted upright in a cold sweat, breathing as if he was shoved underwater. He looked around the room. Instead of the bright and antique ballroom they were in before, he found himself in a dark and cold stone room. The only light coming in was the full moon overhead shining through a glass ceiling. 

“Ugh, my head… It’s pounding… I think I had too much to drink this time,”

He turned around to find Miu right next to him clutching her head, and then he realized that it wasn’t just him alone in this room, his entire class was there alongside him.

All around him, his classmates started to wake up just as confused, groggy, and scared just as he was,

“W-What happened?” Tsumugi asked. She was the first one who could bring herself to speak,

“It seems that the spell worked, but this doesn’t look like a party at all,” Hoshi replied, already fully recovered from the dizzying nap,

“Yeah! What the fuck kind of party is this? I was expecting to get totally wasted!” Miu pouted, “I’m already having a killer hangover, and I didn’t have a single drop of booze…”

“Well, maybe this is the camera crew’s work? Perhaps we’re still onset of the show?” Kiibo added. Unlike everyone else, Kiibo was standing upright the entire time. It was only now that he turned on,

“Or this could be the debut of Miu’s new porn video! No, you sack of bolts, isn’t it obvious that we’ve been kidnapped!?” Kokichi faced away from the group, “Let’s all just admit our fate: we’re all going to get our organs harvested. I’ve seen facilities like this before, my organization dabbles in it once in a while.”

After that, the entire room blew up with conversation. Some debating whether what the small leader said was true, and others full heartedly believing it. Kiibo just looked emptily at the place where his stomach would be if he was human. 

“Alright, alright. Everyone calm down,” Rantaro said, commanding the room’s entire attention, “If this were an organ harvesting facility, I doubt they would let us just roam about with no restrictions. This obviously has to do with what happened in the ballroom, does anyone remember what happened after we performed the ritual?”

Everyone remained quiet. Of course, they all remembered what happened. The strike of lightning on the two girls, how they both disappeared for a quick second before the lightning came back and only one came back dead and mutilated. Out of all the confusion and panic that went on during that time, he wracked his brain trying to remember if any strangers had come into the room or any knockout gas was released, but all he could remember was the flooding dark cloud that enveloped him and filled his lungs to the point where he couldn’t breathe and his mind with demonic thoughts. Was there a gas anywhere in the world like that? 

He looked around the room. Everyone seemed quiet and uncomfortable. It seemed like everyone else remembered what happened in the room as well, but Shuichi’s eyes landed on two particular people in the room. He saw Tenko, standing with tears in her eyes and her dress balled up in her fists. He had remembered what happened when the second lightning strike went down, she was over the poor magician’s body bawling, not even aware of the cloud rolling in and still not aware of the death glare of another.

Shuichi looked over to the other side of the room where Angie sat. Unlike the beginning of the party, she looked like a total wreck now. Her hair was knotted and messy, her face blotted red with dried up tear streaks on her face, and her eyes… So full of hatred and malice that Shuichi knew that something bad had happened in that room. 

Rantaro sighed when nobody said anything,

“I-I’m sorry for bringing it up, but it doesn’t matter. Let’s start investigating the place! The room doesn’t seem too big, but I saw 9 doors back there. Let’s split up into 6 teams of 2, and 1 team of 3 and meet up here if any of us finds an exit!”

After that announcement, everyone started breaking off into their little groups. In the end, the groups became Miu and Kiibo, Maki and Kaito, Kirumi and Tenko, Angie and Tsumugi, and Gonta and Kokichi. Shuichi eyed Kaede from the other side of the room, this could be his opportunity to get close to her, but it was obvious that he wasn’t going the only one trying to pair up with her. He spotted Rantaro making his way over, and so he picked up the pace to reach the Pianist first. 

“Hey Kaede, do you want to pair up with me aga-”

“Do you want to investigate together, Kaede?”

Kaede awkwardly stepped back from the two boys, before responding:

“I don’t think we have much of a choice. Hoshi and Korekiyo seem to have already paired up,” Both boys turned around to see the two idly chatting with one another. They turned back to see Kaede give them an awkward smile, “I guess we’re the group of three then!” 

Shuichi could see the Adventurer sigh disappointingly before turning back to the class:

“Alright, guys! Everyone pick a door to go through and we’ll all search together at once! If you and your group encounter a dead-end, come back and take the remaining two doors. Also, guys be careful and watch each others back just in case if we’re not the only people left in this building. Alright, everyone pick a door!”

When Shuichi approached the doors did he notice that there were strange markings on the door. 

“Dragon… Bunny… Bomb… Uh… Monster… Mirror… Octopus… Scale… Hanger?... Uh, okay… Doll… And scythe. I wonder what this could all mean?” He turned to his side hoping to start some kind of conversation with Kaede, but he then realized that she wasn’t listening to him at all. It had almost seemed like she was somewhere far away from here, somewhere dark and terrible, “Uh… Kaede? Are you okay?”

She snapped back into reality:

“Yeah! Yeah, sorry about that. I’m just… Not feeling really well. I have a bad feeling about all of this.”

“Hey, don’t worry about it. If you ever need someone to talk to, you can always talk to me.”

“Thank you, Shuichi. That means a lot to me.”

They walked together where Rantaro was who was overseeing the entire class. In the end, every team was stationed right outside of a door.

“Alright, everyone on the count of three! 1… 2… 3!”

Shuichi and Kaede watched as Rantaro pull on the door handle, but the door didn’t open. He tried pulling it open again, with no luck. The trio turned around to find almost everyone else also struggling with their doors including Gonta who seemed to be tugging on the door with his massive strength.

“Upupupu… You guys are really desperate to get the game started, huh?” 

A voice rang out in the room. Shuichi could hear Kaito screech before turning to the front of the room where the voice came from. At first, he couldn’t see anything but it wasn’t until he spotted the small hooded figure did he realize that it came from whatever the hell it was. The entire class congregated to the front, unsure of what the figure was, Shuichi could swear it was a toy considering it came up to his knee and that he saw what looked like an inflated belly button popping out. 

“Oh for fuck’s sake,” Miu stomped over to the small thing and pulled the cloak, “If a crappy old toy is what those shit-for-brain thinks is funny, well they have another thing coming for them!”

“W-W-Wait! No! You can’t do that! You’re ruining my dramatic reveal!” the thing said as it wrestled Miu for the cloak.

In the end, Miu was able to pull the entire cloth over the figure. Shuichi seemed to be right that it was a toy. It looked like two different halves of two different bears sewn together: one being an innocent while bear with a cute smile and the other being a devilish black bear with a big menacing grin and a curved eye. 

“Gonta is confused. What is that?”

The little bear fumed: “I am Monokuma! The guardian of this ruin! You guys weren’t supposed to figure that out until later!”

“Oh, I see!” Korekiyo stated, “I remember reading documents that the disappearing ballroom was protected by a devilish creature who brought misery and misfortune to whichever poor soul found themselves trapped in this dimension.”

“Yes! That is me!” the bear cheered, “But I don’t do much of that ripping into flesh and punishing anymore! Too much work for these old bear bones of mine! Now I just watch over this stupid old exit and manage all the other souls that now do my job! I miss my old job from time to time, but I can’t complain with the promotion!”

Everybody’s ears perked up by the word ‘exit’, and they all started to scramble to the bear asking him where the exit was,

“Woah! Woah! Woah, kiddos! It’s not that easy!” the bear yelled, calming all of the students, “To escape from here, you must collect 11 keys from those doors, but beware for every key that is obtained there must be a sacrifice and only those who survive will be allowed to leave. Those who do not have their soul stuck here for all eternity,”

“You can’t do that!” Kiibo yelled, “That’ll be murder!”

“Yeah, we won’t play your game!” Kaito screamed, “If we wait here long enough someone will fi-”

“It’s too late,” Everyone turned around to face Angie who was holding up a small brass key, “We already started playing the moment we did that devil's ritual.”

“Ah! I see! You guys already got a key!” Monokuma rushed forward to Angie and snatched the key out of her hand before inserting it in a blank space in the wall, “As the guardian of this ruin, I’m the only one who can see the door and therefore the keyholes. And don’t even think that you can sit out the games, you have no other means to escape except going through those doors and battling for your life!”

“Well, that’s better than sacrificing our friends!” 

“Then I hope you guys are okay with being crushed to death then. The moment that sunrise hits, this building will crumble down and disappear just as it did all those years ago.” The bear swooned, “But if you want to spend your last hours with little old me that would be fine with me! I've been alone for so long... We could talk about my kids, or my love for murder, or...”

Shuichi had zoned out by the bear’s monologue a long time ago. How could he bring himself to walk into those doors and hope to survive? And if he did, how could he bring himself to vote for someone to die? But the thought of being crushed to death didn’t seem appealing either, but what kind of monstrosity lies behind those doors? 

“Alright, guys. No use thinking about it.” Everyone looked at Rantaro, once again taking command, “It’s obvious what we have to do. Everyone here has their own lives to live, if there could be a chance for anyone to survive I think that’s enough cause to go through those doors.”

The unsettling dread was still present within the group, but the call to action was better than just sitting on their asses. 

“So which door do we go through first?” Kirumi asked.

“I’d say we just go from left to right. That way we don’t really have to choose,” Rantaro and the entire class made his way to the left most door, “Starting with the dragon,”

And with a hard push on the door, it miraculously opened. 

And with a hesitant swallow, he stepped into the unknown. 


	6. Chapter 2.5: A Knight's Fate

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I am so sorry for how long this took! I had midterms for the past two weeks and this chapter took super long to write! Hopefully you guys enjoy nonetheless!

When everyone stepped forward, the first thing he noticed was that his suit had gone missing. He had found himself wearing a dark blue tunic and black pants. He looked around to find that everyone else had a different change of clothes with males wearing the same tunic and pants and the girls wearing long sleeve dresses. The only difference between their clothes was that they were all wearing versions of their relative color scheme. He looked out at the space around him. There was the bright sun shining down on them. He looked around to find themselves approaching a forest, with dark lush trees, beautiful meadow flowers, and a bubbling river crossing their feet. It was almost like they had stepped into a fantasy medieval world rather than their own modern one. Had that bear been tricking them this entire time? Did they happen to luckily find the exit?

“If you guys are thinking, this is the exit. You guys are wrong,” The Monokuma sprung out of the ground near Kaito’s feet who screamed. It seemed like the class wasn’t the only one who changed into the medieval garb, instead of the black cloak he was wearing earlier, the bear was wearing full body armor with a single red plume sticking out, “Time works differently in every room, so while it’s the middle of the day here. It’s still night back on the other side of the door. Which means that you kids are still on the clock!”

“Wait, how does work?” Shuichi asked,

“I don’t know. Magic? I’d say ask your little mage friend, but she’s already dead.” The bear roared in laughter before handing Shuichi a scroll, “Anyways, I’m just here to hand y’all a quest! Have fun!”

And just like that, the bear disappeared into the ground leaving the group of teens utterly confused. Shuichi rolled open the scroll, reading it aloud:

“There was a dragon that terrorized the land,

She pillaged and burned everything in sight,

The gold, fine cloths, and gemstones she stole,

And she would go away in the dead of night.

But a knight of bronze came from the land of the sun,

Proclaiming to slay the drae,

And so, to sneak in the dragon’s cave,

He found the dragon’s 5 golden eggs,

-And that’s it. The rest has been torn off,” 

“So what do we do with that?” Hoshi asked, who was already sweltering in his all-black tunic and pants

“I’m not sure, but we could look arou-'' Shuichi tensed up when he heard the screech of some animal. They all looked frighteningly to the sky as a large winged creature circled aimlessly into the sky,

“What the hell was that?” Kaito asked,

Kokichi, who was hiding behind Gonta’s large frame, said: “No duh, idiot! What else could it be?”

“Hopefully something that won’t eat us,” Rantaro said as he speeded into the forest. Everyone, in turn, followed suit, “The bear said that the scroll was a quest?”

Shuichi rolled open the scroll once more, “Apparently? But there’s nothing else written on it other than this poem!”

“Wait a minute! Shuichi, hand it over!” Kokichi snatched the scroll out of the detective’s hands and brought the paper into the sky, “Hold on a second… Ah! I got it! ‘Look for the dragon’s eggs to enter into the cave’!”

He gave the paper back to the detective who then tilted the paper to the sky to read the hidden message written in blood red writing. He passed around the paper afterward to let everyone else see the message themselves,

“That makes so much more sense!” Kaede exclaimed after seeing the message for herself, “The dragon is trying to find her babies! Perhaps if we find her eggs then maybe we’ll get a key!”

“Or the gremlin has another master plan that could get us all killed,” Everyone turned towards Maki who seemed uninterested in the note, “Isn’t it odd that Kokichi is the one who figured that code out? That from the start, despite everything that has happened, he seems to be the only one not taking this seriously? Kokichi, how the hell did you know about that trick?”

Everyone watched as Kokichi exhaled dramatically. He leaned on the tree he was on, “Let’s just say that I found it by coincidence, and if you want me blubbering like the rest of you I can totally do that!” The boy then immediately burst into tears: “WAHHHH!!! WE’RE IN A SCARY GAME AND WE’RE ALL GOING TO DIE! SOMEBODY SAVE US!!! But that’s not very productive, is it? I could take this game as seriously as a funless deadbeat like you, but why would I? Look where we are! There are dragons in this world and eggs to be found! For example,” He reached his hand into the tree’s hole and pulled out a golden egg, “I found one. And we should find the rest too, if we all don’t want to get crushed or eaten! Come on, guys, let’s get going!” 

And just like that, the group disbanded with almost all walking deeper into the forest to find more clues:

“So shall we get going?” Shuichi flinched a bit. He had completely forgotten that the Pianist was by his side the entire time. He gave her a nod of approval before walking into a random direction.

The two found themselves silently going through a thick thrush of branches. Shuichi, who was leading the way, could hear his partner having to stop every so often to pull her dress off of a branch. 

“Out of the clothes to give the girls, you would think they would give us something a little bit more convenient for the terrain.”

Shuichi chuckled at the comment: “Yeah, I bet. Right now, I’m dying in this tunic! It’s almost like they gave us these clothes just to give us more problems!” He laughed some more before moving a branch out of his way, “But I wonder… How did we get in these clothes in the first place?”

Kaede stepped over a root before answering: “I mean didn’t Monokuma say it was magic? I mean how else do you explain the change of scenery and the dragon?”

“I guess you’re right, but it seems so outlandish. In my fair opinion, magic is the laziest excuse out there. If you don’t know anything, chalk it all up to magic. For all we know, the bear could be an animatron, the room before could have a digital moon, and the dragon could be a recording. WIth the world filled with Ultimates, anything could be possible without the use of magic.” 

Shuichi laughed a little and waited to hear Kaede’s laughing as well, but when she didn’t: “Kaede? You alright?”

He turned around to find her a few feet farther behind him, silent with an uncomfortable expression plastered on her face, as she pushed through the thicket of branches; but once she reached him she gave him a small smile: “Ah, I’m sorry. I’m a little bit tired so I wasn’t able to respond, but I totally agree with you. There has to be an actual explanation for all of is.”

“Hey, if you want to slow down, we could. No need to push yourself.” Shuichi asked worriedly,

“It’s alright. Anyways, I think I see a clearing just a little bit ahead.” 

And just like that, Kaede pushed him aside and took the lead. As Shuichi trailed behind her, he could feel her tension radiating off from her. 

Was it something I said? Was she actually tired? Did I accidentally trigger a bad memory? What happened? And what did I do?

_ As he tried to wrap his head around what went wrong in the conversation, he could finally see the clearing that Kaede was talking about. And it didn’t look like they were alone. _

In the clearing, they found Kirumi, Korekiyo, and Tenko together in what looked to be a stone ruin: one that seemed to be comprised of several monuments of knights surrounding a large marble block, but with the state that it was in it looked like it had been destroyed and ransacked.

“Hey! It seems we aren’t the only ones here, Shuichi!” Kaede ran towards the group: “So what’s going on?” 

“Oh what fortunate timing,” Korekiyo said, “We were just struggling with this current puzzle.”

Ugh… Shuichi thought Why does everyone think I can do them?

“Let me take a look at it.” 

They allowed Shuichi to take a look at the marble block, on it was engraved with:

7 knights declared to slay the dragon

Yet only 3 survived from it’s fiery breath

The Knight of Gold came out with only his arms

The Knight of SIlver lost his mind

The only one who came out unscathed

Was the Knight of Bronze, himself.

Yet the story passes through each generation

And the people forget the stories of each knight

It is up to you, to make it right

The stories of those who lost their lives.

“So what do we do with this piece of information?” Kaede asked,

“Well we were looking around and we did find this,” Kirumi pointed to the torch that was near what would be the entrance of the ruin, “Every single statue has a lamp to burn. I believe we light them depending on who perished in fire.”

“We also found these weird balls,” Tenko said, holding up three metal orbs. One gold, one silver, and one bronze, “Tenko thinks we put them in the hands of the statues we think are the knights.”

“Out of all these statues, we’ve only managed to figure out one,” Korekiyo said. He pointed to a headless statue: “That one has to be the SIlver Knight as he “lost his mind” or “lost his head”. But we still aren’t sure about the rest.”

Shuichi brought his hand to his chin as he inspected the statues hoping to see some defining clue that would indicate their fate. On the other side of the ruin, Kaede was much more touchy with her investigation by running her fingers up and down the statue’s bodies and looking into every small detail of the statue. So far, nothing could be found.

\---

Kaede sighed as she stepped away from the statue. She couldn’t find anything incriminating on the statue. She thought that if she looked close enough maybe she’ll see signs of a burn or a scratch or something! But in the end, all her efforts were wasted.

The only thing that was weird was these holes in the back of the head. Each statue (aside from the one without a head) had two smooth curves carved in the back of the head with holes in the middle of the divet, but she didn’t know what it meant. It’s not like any of the soldiers died of a head wound, so why did every single statue have these holes? She ended up chalking it up to either deterioration or an artist’s signature. She sighed heavily:

_ Maybe if I just bounce my ideas with someone, then I’ll get somewhere! _

She looked around the ruin:

Shuichi was still carefully inspecting each and every inch of the ruin, but he looked way too serious and deep in his thoughts for her to go bother him.

Then there was Korekiyo and Kirumi already discussing with one another, but it looked like they were having a really good conversation so she didn’t want to bother them.

And then there was Tenko. At first glance, Kaede had thought she was rereading the engraving, but with a closer look she realized that the Aikido Master was contemplating her own thoughts. Kaede could her face wrinkle up in frustration and dissatisfaction. She walked over to her side, taking her by the shoulder:

“Hey, are you okay? How are you holding up?” Tenko looked up to Kaede. The emotions now clearly showing up on her face now,

“Tenko is so frustrated by all of this! Nothing makes sense! Himiko died, and no one wants to acknowledge what happened! Not only that, we have to solve these stupid puzzles just for more people to die in the end! And not only that, Angie wants to-” Tenko stopped herself before saying more, but after realizing who she was with she continued. This time much more quietly: “Angie wants me dead... She blames Tenko for what happened to Himiko and her! She said… That if there’s another vote, she’ll vote for Tenko…”

Kaede’s heart dropped at the thought of Tenko going into one of those death games. She remembered of the vote before, she pulled the other girl into a hug:

“Hey, don’t worry. I won’t let that happen to you. I’ll try to talk to her. I’m sure she just needs a shoulder to cry on.”

Tenko sighed in relief and hugged her back appreciatively: “Thank you so much, Kaede. Tenko is sure that after you talk to her, Angie will get a new perspective of Tenko!”

The two girls finally parted from the hug. Tenko, now revitalized, went straight back to work on finding some clues while Kaede felt oddly perturbed by what Tenko said:

_ Perspective… If the two girls can just see each other’s perspective then they would understand the other one’s problems… If they could just see through their eyes… See through their eyes! _

Kaede ran up to the nearest statue, climbing on top of the pedestal, by now almost everyone was staring at her fervent actions but right now she could care less. She held the statue’s head in her hands as she observed the holes with close precision:

Yeah! They line perfectly with the eyes!

She realized that she could look into the holes as if it was a telescope. The moment she peered in, she saw mountains of gold about as tall as she- no the knight was. An armor clad hand reached out to grab as much gold as they can before a pillar of flame appeared and filled her vision with red. 

Kaede flinched instinctively, taking a step backwards to avoid the flames, but when she found her foot not meeting any surface she found herself falling away from the statue. She braced herself for the impact of the hard ground, but instead she found herself falling into soft arms.

“Miss Akamatsu, you should be more careful with yourself,”

Kaede looked up to meet Kirumi’s eyes and quietly thanked her as the maid let her down. Tenko and Shuichi rushed to her side worried about her well-being as Korekiyo remained still at the side not disturbed over what happened:

“Woah, guys. I’m okay,” She said, raising her hands out, “Most importantly, I’ve figured out how to solve the puzzle.” 

She explained what she saw to the group. Telling them of the holes in the back of the head, the way you could peer inside them, and the fire that she saw. 

“I see. I guess we see the soldier’s demise through their own eyes, then.” Korekiyo said,

“Exactly! How about everyone take about one statue each since I already did the first one and we already figured out the other, and after seeing each one we put the item to the statue. Also, whoever finishes the first can also do the remaining statue.” 

Everyone nodded to the plan, and so the group dispersed to do what was needed. As everyone climbed on top of the large stone pedestal, Kaede grabbed the torch near the epitaph and lit the lamp of the left outermost statue. When she did, the eyes glowed green.

_ I guess I got it right then… _

She moved onto the statue right beside it. This one was one of the better looking statues who still had the defining carved features rather than the muted warped faces. Kaede hoisted herself on top of the pedestal and peered inside the holes.

She found herself in the same cave that she was in before, but instead she seemed to be deeper within. When she looked back, all she could see was the large amounts of gold, gems, and fine fabrics that were accumulated into large piles. Unlike the last vision she saw, this knight seemed uninterested in the wealth and instead used it as a way to hide themselves. Kaede found herself stealthily moving from pile to pile until she came across the scaly black snout of the dragon.

Kaede peeked out from the pile she was hiding from and found that the dragon was sleeping soundly. Kaede, as the knight, decided that this was the perfect opportunity to strike. Sidestepping every piece of gold, they got closer until they were striking range of a piano-sized eye. Kaede held her breath knowing that if the beast were to open their eyes, she would be scorched to the ground, but with the sword in her hand she confidently sliced the dragon’s eye. 

She ran away as the dragon roared in agony, swiping about 5 tons of gold, gems, and fine fabrics into the air. She found herself shielding herself with the shield in her hand and once the bombardment of wealth ceased, she charged forward. 

The dragon’s large claw swiped towards her as she skillfully dodged to the left and striked. The dragon roared once more in pain as it held it’s bloody right claw. This time the dragon retaliated with not only stomping, but with fire. Kaede found herself in a terrible dance of fire and claws as the knight swerved between all of them, but with the wrong misstep she found herself being held down by the bloody claw.

She squirmed in its grasp, desperate to get out, as the dragon’s mouth came closer and closer. The last thing she saw was the flames glowing in the back of rows of teeth.

Kaede reflexively took a step back, but this time held onto the statue for support.

That one was way more intense than the first… I can’t believe that guy died. He almost had it… 

She swiped off the sweat off her forehead before climbing down. She reached the epitaph finding the torch gone from its holder until she saw Shuichi lighting his own lamp. 

“Oh, I’m sorry. Do you need this?” the Detective said as he approached her, “I can see why you fell. That was… really intense. It was so real that I felt like I was the one going to be burned.”

Kaede agreed meekly in response before accepting the handed out torch to her. She walked over to the statue and lit the lamp beside it. Once more, the eyes turned green. She turned back to the group finding Kirumi, Shuichi, and Tenko standing idly by.

“That was really scary,” Tenko said as she took deep breaths, “Tenko’s legs were eaten by that monster. I’m so glad someone came to save Tenko.”

“It’s a good thing that it wasn’t real,” Kirumi said, seemingly unfazed by what she saw. 

“Yeah, now we just have to wait for Korekiyo.” Shuichi said. 

The group turned towards where Korekiyo was. It seems that the anthropologist took up a second statue to look into. When he finally came out of it, Kaede realized that he looked flushed- almost euphoric as he stepped off the pedestal easily and made his way to the epitaph. 

“You seem rather happy,” Kaede said, trying to not let her feeling of distaste out,

“Of course,” Korekiyo said, breathing heavily, as he grabbed the torch, “This is the anthropologist’s dream: to find a tool that perfectly encompasses the experiences of a person. As terrifying as it was, it was truly insightful.” 

As he left to light his own lamp, Kaede found herself realizing that what he said was actually reasonable and not a flaw to his character. 

_ I guess that guy isn’t as creepy as I thought he was. _

Once the final statue’s eyes turned green, they found the entire ruin shaking. Kaede curled into herself, thinking that the building was going to collapse, until it suddenly stopped.

“W-What was that?” Tenko asked, who had curled herself over Kirumi to protect her,

“It seems that we figured out the puzzle,” Korekiyo said smoothly. He walked over to the headless statue where a golden egg laid in place of where the head should be. He climbed on top of the pedestal to grab the egg. He turned back to the group, “I guess we should meet up with the others.”

\---

As the group of 5 trudged through the forest, Shuichi found himself the odd one out. Kaede and Tenko were talking to one another as Kirumi and Korekiyo were discussing with each other, and so he was left to deal with his own thoughts.

_ That wasn’t a video that we saw. It was actually as if we were those knights. I wonder if this means that we’re going to have to fight the dragon ourselves… _

He shuddered at the thought. His knight was a skilled professional with a bow, but due to the dragon’s impenetrable armor, it was useless. In the end, he had found himself being knocked to the ground by a golden cow before seeing red flames coming his way. If a trained soldier couldn’t defeat a dragon, how could he?

Luckily, the trip wasn’t too long and within a few minutes he had already heard the chatter of his fellow classmates up ahead. Once they reached the clearing, he found his entire class standing by the stream that they were in before. The first thing he noticed was the two eggs in Kokichi’s arms.

“No! You can’t touch them! These are my babies!” he said, turning away from Miu, “I don’t want my kids being influenced by a perverted cow like you!”

“Perverted cow…” she said meekly,

“C’mon, we found those eggs together. We just want to see!” Kaito said,

“Nope! An idiot like you will just drop them on their heads! I can’t have my kids growing up stupid like you!”

The two bickered back and forth as the rest of their group (comprising of also Gonta, Kiibo, and Maki) rushed to break up the fight. The other group (comprising of Rantaro, Tsumugi, Angie and Hoshi) waited awkwardly to the side as Rantaro held their own golden egg. Shuichi noticed the slight glare Angie gave Tenko the moment she stepped into the clearing.

“So, we tried our best and found 4 eggs but we need one more. Does anyone know where it might be?”

Kiibo spoke up, “We found our second egg pretty early, so we looked through the entire forest. We couldn’t find any other ruins nor could we find it hiding.”

Ruins? It seems that they weren’t the only ones to encounter them.

“Yeah, Gonta asked all the bugs too and they said there weren’t any eggs hiding.”

Everyone watched as Rantaro brought a hand to his chin and thought, “I wonder where that last egg could be…”

“You don’t need to look any farther” 

An arrow rushed out from the trees and implanted itself into Rantaro’s shoulder. Shuichi felt himself being pushed forwards and onto the ground when he finally turned around to find who had pushed him, he came face to face with a gleaming knife. He looked up to find an older man wearing a dark brown tunic looming over him. He looked around to the group for help only to find them in similar situations.

Miu and Kiibo was both apprehended by two bigger people. Maki was on a standoff with another knife-wielding woman who had a knife pressed to Kaito’s throat. Gonta and Kokichi were struggling to get untangled from a net. Tenko had been completely driven into the ground by a man who had a tight grip on her as Kaede, Kirumi and Korekiyo was surrendering to a trio of thieves. Tsumugi was nursing Rantaro’s wounded shoulder while Angie and Hoshi were being tied up in the corner. 

A man stepped out of the darkness of the forest. The first thing Shuichi noticed was the long ugly burn that went from the man’s upper left temple down to the right side of his chin. The man had a messy red mane that was tied into a ponytail and striking green eyes. Unlike the rest of the group who was wearing common clothes, he was wearing silver armor and held a golden egg in his hand. He looked down at the group of kids amused:

“Now to think that a group of children were to figure out the ruin’s riddles faster than us. How humiliating…” he walked over to Tsumugi who was clutching onto Rantaro tightly, “Now tell me, girl, what were you guys planning to do in our territory?”

“W-We’re just trying to get home, sir! We just need a key and then we’ll all go home!”

Almost everyone in the group nodded in agreement. Shuichi watched as the man grabbed her by the hair, her glasses falling off her face and onto the ground,

“Don’t lie to me, girl! I know you kids are here to steal the dragon’s treasure away from me!” 

Several of the kids yelled at him to let her go, but still the man held on:

“I-It’s the truth! We’re only here for a key! We were just told that if we found all 5 eggs then we can get a key!” 

“A key you say…” He dropped Tsumugi to the ground who quickly put her glasses back on, “Do you mean this?”

He pulled out a small brass key that was attached to a necklace. Everyone screamed in agreeance. He kneeled in front of Tsumugi:

“I guess we could make a fair trade then,” the man said, “They say that those that seek the dragon’s treasure are considered dead before they even step inside the cave, so I’ll have two of you kids go and retrieve the treasure for me and I’ll give you this key in return.”

Shuichi’s heart dropped. He can’t mean… He possibly can’t mean…

The silver thief took a deck of cards out of his hands:

“And we’ll decide who gets to go with a vote.”

Goddamnit. 

\---

The group of thieves allowed them to talk amongst themselves as he was setting up the cards and calling certain people up to start voting. He ended up joining Kaede with comforting Tenko. Kaede rubbed circles onto the other girl’s back:

“Don’t worry about it… Tenko, everything is going to be okay…”

“Angie… Angie is going to vote me in…” Tenko said with her head in her hands. Shuichi had no idea what to do. He barely even knew what was going on, but still he tried putting in the effort to comfort her:

“Hey, if you think about it. There’s 15 of us. If Angie puts in one vote, you’ll only have a 6% chance of actually being voted in.”

“But she’s trying to convince other people to vote me in as well. Look at her!” Kaede and Shuichi watched as Angie talked to Gonta and Tsumugi with her normal cheery demeanor. They could both see that the Cosplayer and Entomologist looked extremely uncomfortable, “If more people vote me in then I have a higher chance of being voted in. Please, Kaede, please talk to her. She’ll most likely listen to you. ”

Kaede gave a small smile to the girl before going up to talk to the Artist and Shuichi found himself alone, not really sure how to comfort the other girl. He was pretty sure that the last thing she would want would be touched by a guy, and Shuichi couldn’t find the words to make her feel better. And so, he sat with her, hoping his company would be good enough. But in his mind he thought:

_ It’s so unlike her to not confront someone about what she’s feeling. Why hasn’t she gone up to Angie already? Is she feeling guilty about something? I wonder… Did Tenko vote for Angie in that last round? No! They were such good friends! The three of them were always together! But that would be the only explanation for why Angie would want Tenko to be voted in… _

Shuichi looked over to how Kaede was doing. He was expecting for the Artist to blow up on her or cry, but he was surprised that she was smiling and holding a normal conversation. But there was something in her eyes that hinted something deeper… 

_ Angie was always a smooth talker though. She’s able to get her entire island to believe in her every word. I wouldn’t be surprised if she was able to convince people to join her side. Afterall, she could easily make herself look like a victim. What do I make of this situation… _

He watched Kaede walk over. She was rubbing her hands together. Shuichi knew that means that she was nervous,

“What did she say?” Tenko said,

“Well…” Kaede said. She sighed before shaking her head, “She won’t budge at all, but we could still try to advocate for your side. Let’s try asking for help from other people!” 

Tenko thanked her quietly, still disturbed that her name was still on the ballot. As soon as he stood up from the ground, he heard his name being called by the leader of the thieves. He looked at the two girls before Kaede nudged him to go. 

He walked over to the armored thief who had the cards laid on the ground. Somehow he had the same cards that were in the ballroom before,

“H-How did you get these cards?” he asked,

“Not important. Just pick who you want to vote for.”

Shuichi shakily put his hands towards the deck. It’s a moment of life and death. Who should he vote for?

_ Should I vote for Angie and support Tenko? But the girl has already been through one of these games, it would seem cruel to put her through another. _

_ Should I vote for Tenko and throw her under the bus? As long as it’s not my name I’ll be fine. _

_ Should I vote for Korekiyo who seems to be oddly enjoying all of this? _

_   
_ _ Or should I vote for somebody else in the group? Which of my classmates do I vote for? _

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> VOTE HERE:  
> https://linkto.run/p/WN41DM2G
> 
> Also, I'm not really sure if anyone is reading this fic, so if about 5 people vote then I know that at least someone reads it and I'm not wasting my time.
> 
> For those who do, thank you for staying with me!


	7. Chapter 2.7: Walking into the Flames

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Sorry for the late post! With this quarantine, I've been feeling real lazy and I have been going through a rough time writing this chapter! Hopefully, you enjoy this short chapter though!

The Detective glided his hand over the cards. His hand gliding over [The Supreme Leader] card:

_ Wait, why did I go for Kokichi? He hasn’t done anything for me to vote for him. Weird… Maybe I should choose someone who deserves it. _

His hand then gilded back up to stop at [The Artist]. Knowing that Angie had malicious intentions towards Tenko, Shuichi wasn’t sure if she could be trusted. For all he knew, Angie could easily convince everyone else to vote for him as well, but somehow he couldn’t bring himself to pick up the card.

_ She… She doesn’t deserve this. She’s already been too much. _

Shuichi looked up to see the thief who was starting to grow impatient,

“You better hurry up, boy. I’m getting tired of waiting.”

Shuichi could feel himself sweltering in his tunic as the sun and the intense stare was beating down on him. He brashly picked up a card and put it in the thief’s hand.

“Thank you.” he shooed him away, calling Gonta to come vote now,

Shuichi walked over to the log that he was sitting on before as he watched Tenko and Kaede talk to Kirumi and Korekiyo. He put his head in his hands,

Why did I do that? Why did I vote for Korekiyo?

He looked over to the Anthropologist who was listening intently to what Kaede was saying as he nodded along. For Shuichi, he had always found the other student a little unsettling, but what happened earlier today made his stomach churn. 

Shuichi had never really seen any emotion cross Korekiyo’s face, but he had seemed so ecstatic after watching those visions of people dying. Shuichi could almost describe the look on his face as almost euphoric. If someone could disregard death that easily, could Shuichi ever trust them?

“Yoohoo! Everyone!” A large blonde thief called, bringing everyone’s attention, “Can Sir Ferdinand have your attention?”

Everyone watched as the armored thief cleared his throat, shuffling the deck of 15 cards in his hands. 

“We can now start the draw to see who will go into the dragon’s den.”

The entire class drew their breath as he picked a random card from the top of the class. He showed it to everyone,

“Korekiyo, Ultimate Anthropologist.”

Shuichi could feel his stomach drop as everyone turned their heads towards the masked boy who had no reaction towards the reveal at all. He only nodded in response.

“And Tenko, Ultimate Aikido Master.”

From behind him, he could hear a small gasp. He turned around to find Tenko staring ahead in shock as Kaede rubbed her shoulder. Shuichi expected for the girl to start breaking down, but instead he found her standing strong, staring daggers at the Artist who was smiling deviously to herself.

The thief dropped the cards back into the hands of one of his henchmen, he flashed a menacing smirk at the crowd: “May the two brave souls join me for a short walk to a dragon’s den?”

\---

Korekiyo and Tenko walked quietly side by side behind the armored man as he freelanced some lyrics about he was going to get filthy rich soon.

Tenko just wanted to die right there. 

To be walking into a dense forest in the sweltering heat with two degenerate men was already complete hell for her, and it didn’t help that they were all headed to what she knew was her foreseeable fiery doom. Never in her entire life had she felt as hopeless and as defenseless as she felt right now, wondering how much more hotter dragon’s breath was to the summer heat. She eyed Korekiyo seeing how he was unaffected at all he was to everything.

_ There’s something that has got to be wrong with him.  _

“I suggest you two start mentally preparing yourself, we’re approaching the dragon’s den.”

Korekiyo and Tenko followed suit as the thief started approaching the cave entrance cautiously. As they got closer did Tenko realize how big the entrance was. The door seemed to be about 4 stories high and about a school bus or two wide. She walked closer to find 5 egg shaped imprints on the door and an epitaph carved on,

  
  


_ To those who dare to challenge the dragon’s might, _

_ Might care to stay to listen to one knight’s plight. _

_ A knight of bronze came with eggs in hand, _

_ And a sword of rust that he command _

_ For a dragon’s skin so tough to rich man’s keep, _

_ Can only be killed by a sword so cheap. _

_ The knight climbed a mountain of gold _

_ To see the sleeping dragon of old. _

_ He leapt off the cliff with a graceful flight, _

_ And ended her vision where she could only see night. _

_ Nisi pura non potuit esse verum ut pecunia, non videbo avaritia corrupta _

  
  


Tenko, making nothing of the epitaph, watched Korekiyo as he carefully read the epitaph.

“H-Hey,” she said awkwardly, trying to seem as friendly as she could be, “Could you make something of this? Especially the last line?”

“Sorry. Out of all the languages I know, this doesn’t seem like one I know” he responded, shaking his head,

Tenko could feel a tinge of disappoint run over her before the armored knight called them over:

“Hey, brats! Get on over here! It’s almost night and I’d rather not be here when she wakes up!”

The two Ultimates joined the adult who then started explaining the plan:

“Alright, here’s the plan. The moment I put these 5 eggs in, the door will open. You two will run in there and grab a certain sword.”

“A sword?” Tenko asked,

“Yes,” the thief spat, “Now don’t interrupt me again. This sword is very special you see. Out of all the treasures in that room, that sword is the most valuable. In fact, all the riches in that room is nothing compared to it!”

The thief laughed in glee,

“The sword we’re going for is the Bronze Knight’s sword. If one of you brats are able to grab it, then I’ll let you and your little friends go.”

“That’s it?” Tenko asked, “We don’t need to slay the dragon or anything?”

“Ahahaha! Of course not! If the strongest knight couldn’t even kill it, what makes you think you kids can? Even blind, that beast is a deadly killer.”

Tenko could feel her heart pumping in her chest. She looked over to Korekiyo who seemed more intrigued than scared:

“What makes you say that?” the masked boy asked,

“Legends say that the dragon has sensitive ears, being able to pick up on the slightest of noises. If you make the slightest of noise, she will burn you with her flames,” He released them from his grasp, “Anyways, let’s get started. Don’t forget: grab the sword and we’ll let you and your friends go free.”

Tenko watched the man as he inserted the eggs one by one, feeling her palms go sweaty. She looked over to the Anthropologist right next to her who was staring blankly at the door. He met her gaze,

“Chibashira, may I propose an agreement with you?”

“Uh… Sure?”

“That man said that if we were to grab the sword, we would be able to leave. He never mentioned that one of us has to die. I propose we work together to grab the sword. What do you think?”

“T-That’s amazing! Yeah! I never actually thought about that!” She shook his hand feeling way better than she had before.

“Are you two ready?” The thief called out to them, “I’m inserting the last egg.”

The two nodded as he inserted the last egg. The giant door rumbled open revealing the mountains of riches that were hidden inside. 

With a deep breath, Tenko and Korekiyo walked in.

[Despite having an alliance with Korekiyo, she feels untrustful of the degenerate male. Should she trust him?]

>Tenko should trust him

>Tenko should not trust him.

**Vote Below! And Beware! Your Vote Decides Their Fate!**

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> VOTE BELOW:
> 
> https://linkto.run/p/90HD3K1M
> 
> I'll stop taking votes on Wednesday and hopefully post on the same day since I have one of the choices already done!
> 
> Please comment down below! I really do appreciate the feedback!


	8. Chapter 2.9: The Dragon's Treasure

**[Tenko chose to trust Korekiyo]**

Walking inside, Teko realized that the cave was much bigger than she had anticipated. From what she saw, the cave was about 2 football fields long and the ceiling was about as high as the cafeteria back at school. Not only that, almost every single inch of the floor was covered with treasure. Tenko sidestepped a diamond-encrusted pot as she continued to examine the room. 

Now that she thought about it, the things in the room were pretty random. Sticking its head out of a pile of gems was a golden bull. On one side of the room was a hideously poofy ball gown with white feathers sticking out of it. Near the entrance was an old knight armor stand wearing an oversized bedazzled top hat and minx scarf. 

_ Rich people must have really weird taste… _ Tenko thought as she continued to look around.

A hand whipped in front of her almost causing Tenko to scream out. She stared at Korekiyo who put a finger to his masked lips before cocking his head to the front. She peered farther inside the cave seeing the giant mass of a black dragon waking from its sleep. Tenko could feel her breath trapping itself in her throat as she watched as the dragon lifted its head into the air sniffing. The dragon snapped its eyes open. Large, glossy, grey, and feral as it let out a frightening roar. 

Tenko and Korekiyo dashed behind a pile of gold as the dragon stomped its way around the cave. 

“Chibashira,” Korekiyo whispered, trying his best to make his voice as low as possible,

“What?”

“Look at the dragon. She seems to be walking in circles… Almost as if she’s protecting something.”

Tenko looked to see the dragon pacing back and forth in front of what looked to be a large pile of coins. She peered closer to find 5 swords sticking out from on top of the mountain,

“I think you’re right! Look at that mountain! It has 5 swords in it!”

“Alright then, let’s continue.”

The two continued on their trek, carefully stepping over loose change and large items. They decided that it would be easier if they were to split with Korekiyo taking the right side and Tenko taking the left. 

Tenko watched Korekiyo as he took a nimble leap over a shield,

_ I-I think I misjudged him. Korekiyo may seem like a really REALLY creepy guy, but he seems reliable. Maybe when this is all over and we get back to the group, maybe I should try to be his friend… _

She ran to the next pile in front of her, realizing how far they were in the cave. She was so close that she could see the dragon’s gigantic thigh a few piles away. The dragon was suspiciously sniffing a tapestry on the wall,

_ She seems unaware… Good. _

**KLUNK!**

She turned her head to see Korekiyo who was frozen in place as he stared at a goblet that had fallen to the floor from one of the piles. The dragon whipped its head towards the noise letting out a pillar of flame. Korekiyo and Tenko dove behind their piles of gold, missing the flames. They stared at each other as the dragon inched closer to Korekiyo’s pile, sniffing it. Tenko could see the sweat roll off of the Anthropologist’s forehead as the dragon’s snout got closer and closer.

_ What can I do? What can I do? Aha! _

Tenko saw a silver horseshoe on the floor. She picked it up and threw it as far as she could towards the entrance of the cave. The dragon perked its head towards the noise and stomped angrily towards it.

Korekiyo let out a breath of relief before nodding graciously towards Tenko who gave a thumbs up back. They continued on their way, hiding from pile to pile. This time going faster since the dragon was now distracted,

As Tenko moved to the last pile, she heard the stomps of the dragon behind her. She crouched low to the ground as the dragon made its way back to its original position,

_ Goddamnit! What now? _

She looked to Korekiyo who waved her over. She crossed over to his pile as they crouched together,

“The dragon seems to be more on guard now than she was before,” Korekiyo whispered,

“What do we do then?”

“Do not worry, Chibashira. I have a plan. Can you see the swords on the hill? My eyes were affected by the smoke so I can’t see very well right now.”

She looked past the pile of gold. From what she could see, she could tell that there were a gold sword, followed by a silver rapier, followed by another gold sword, and a rusty handle delved deep inside the mountain.

“Second to the right! It’s the one second to the right!”

“Thank you, Chibashira.” he said,

Tenko beamed up at him, “Okay then! What’s the plan?”

“This.” 

Tenko felt herself being pushed backwards, crashing on top of a mountain of gold. She stared up at the dragon who whipped her head towards her. She tumbled out of the mountain as a scaley claw swiped. As she laid beside a claw almost as big as her, she watched as Korekiyo sprint towards the mountain. 

_ That asshole! Why the hell did I ever trust a man?  _

She ran down the hallway, leaping over large items, with a dragon on her tail. She looked over her shoulder and past the dragon to see Korekiyo finally it to the top of the mountain,

“You see, Chibashira? You see where trust gets you in this game! Out of all the girls, I thought you would know better than to trust a disgusting man! Look at where your naive little heart got you! And I!” Korekiyo yelled, “Will win for only the courageous can take the sword!”

He grabbed the rusty handle and pulled it out. A loud piercing scream resonated from the rusty axe in his hand. Upon hearing this, the dragon roared in pain and turned around, forgetting about the girl. Tenko hid behind a golden piano as she watched the dragon charge the mountain that Korekiyo was standing on. 

She turned her head away before hearing the terrified scream and the snapping of bones.

When Tenko turned back, she couldn’t find the Anthropologist anywhere. She could only noticed the dragon’s now calm nature as she licked her bloody paw. She sat down,

_ Oh God, Korekiyo… If I didn’t go along the plan and decided to go do things myself, I would be the one dead. But if that wasn’t the sword, where is it? _

She looked around the room, not seeing another weapon in sight. She could feel herself start to hyperventilate again. Could she be trapped in this room with this dragon forever? 

_ Where could it be? Where could it be? What did I see? _

A sudden idea popped in her head.

_ No… It couldn’t be… _

She carefully removed herself from the piano, making her way towards the entrance. Seeing the weirdly-dressed armor, she moved the scarf and hat revealing a rusty sword in its hands. She wretched it out of the armor stand’s hands, staring at it in disbelief.

_ I can’t believe it was here from the start. This scarf… Was just covering it… We could’ve both made it out alive if we had just looked closer… _

She looked back at the spot where Korekiyo probably died, and ran back out the cave, sword in hand.


	9. Chapter 3: Toy Land

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Wow today has just been a roll for me! Hopefully, you enjoy this double update!

Shuichi sat with Kaede as she wrung her hands. She repeatedly kept looking back to the forest, waiting for someone to step through it,

“We got to believe in Tenko. Yeah, she can do this. She’s the Ultimate Aikido Master. She shouldn’t lose as long as the game isn’t an intelligence game. Yeah, she can do it…”

“Kaede, I don’t know if I should be saying this, but take a deep breath. Whatever happens in there is something that’s out of our control.” Shuichi said, wondering if putting a hand on her shoulder would be too much,

“I-I know,” Kaede said, “But I can’t help but worry over her. You saw how scared she was…“

Shuichi remembered distinctly. The despair in her eyes, the trembling of her voice. It was almost insane thinking that the girl who was with them an hour prior was potentially dead.

A faint terrible singing voice resounded from the forest. Everyone turned their attention as the armored knight pushed through the bushes, wielding an extremely rusted sword in his hand. Everyone held their breath, anticipating who would step out of the forest.

A girl in a blue dress stepped through the bush. She looked relatively fine other than the fact that her hair was a mess.

Upon seeing Tenko, Kaede rushed forward to hug the girl in a tight embrace.

“You’re back! You’re back! I knew that you would come back!” she laughed. The other girl hugged back limply with a solemn silence,

Everyone else watched from afar. Some people were smiling at the sight while others looked uncomfortable. Shuichi noticed the slight paleness in Kirumi’s face despite her telling the surviving girl congratulations. He remembered distinctly that the last person he talked to was the maid. 

But the worst of the group was Angie who stood in the back of the group with her mouth hanging open. Shuichi tried to find the previous anger in her eyes, but instead found surprise and perhaps fear. 

When the two girls parted, Tenko silently walked over to Angie. Everyone sat in silence unsure of what to do as the artist seemed almost frozen in place. Tenko placed a hand on her shoulder,

“Y-You were right. I was the one who voted for you last game. You had every right to vote for me in this round, but I survived and now I understand exactly what you went through. I don’t think I can do that ever again, a-and I’m sure you don’t want to either. So please… Can we just stop fighting and say we’re equal?” 

The artist trembled as she nodded yes. Tenko exhaled in relief and turned away from the platinum blonde. Shuichi could see the look of relief on her face.

_ She must’ve thought that Tenko came back with a vengeance. If she had, Angie would probably be voted in the next game. Thankfully, they are kind of on good terms now. _

“Hah, this blows,” Shuichi jumped as Kokichi sat right next to him on the log, looking out at Tenko, Kaede, and Maki who were all talking to one another, “If those two kept on fighting then we’d all have a better survival chance.”

“W-What do you mean?” Shuichi asked, shocked by what the other boy said,

“Didn’t you realize it too? If those two kept trying to get back at each other and vote each other in then the rest of us wouldn’t have to worry about being voted in.” The boy sighed in disappointment.

“Kokichi, you can’t possibly be saying that you want them to kill each other.”

The supreme leader looked at him in surprise,

“Why not?” Kokichi said confused, “I mean, sure, the feud is over and that’s dandy and all that. But if you really thought about it, it just means that we all have a chance of being voted in the next round.”

Shuichi didn’t want to admit it, but Kokichi was right. If they had just kept on fighting, there would be a pretty good chance that they could survive another round or two. It seemed awful to think about it, but a part of him really didn’t want to see the horrors within the games.

“Alright, brats,” the armored thief said, “You did what you were told and retrieved the treasure, and just like I promised, I’ll give you the key.”

He pulled out the small brass key and threw it towards Tenko who caught it in her hands.

“Now scat. I don’t want to see any of you wandering in our territory ever again.”

The group all hesitantly moved away from the group of thieves and made their way back to where they started.

Back where it originally was, the black door opened up for the group. As the class went through the doors, the glaring sun was just about to go down.

\---

“You’re back!” Monokuma yelled as they walked through, “You all must be so tired after a long hard day of work! Would you like a bath? Dinner? Or perhaps… Me?”

The bear posed like a girl in a bikini photoshoot which made everyone instinctively grimace.

“Uh… No, thank you.” Gonta replied for the group,

“Anyways, it seems that you kids received another key! I thought you were an incompetent group of kids, but it seems you guys are doing quite well!” 

He snatched the key from Tenko and inserted it right next to the first key. The building trembled a little as it was inserted.

The group all exhaled in relief. It kind of felt like they could finally take a breather after all the craziness that ensued. Shuichi turned to talk to Kaito,

“No! No! No!” The bear exclaimed, stopping the group from relaxing, “Did you guys forget about your time limit! If you guys don’t continue on then the building will collapse!”

He started pushing the group into the next set of doors that were starting to open, receiving a lot of yells from the kids.

“I would love to stay and chat, but the readers don’t have time for that kind of bear crap!”

\---

The entire class ended up in a giant heap on the floor.

“Someone please get up… My circuits ar-are breaking.” Kiibo grunted out,

“Hey! Hands off the goods!” Miu screamed as she tried squirming away,

“Sorry, I don’t think I can really control where my hands are...” Rantaro apologized,

“Gonta, dude, get up… You’re crushing me…” Kaito choked out,

“P-Please…” Tsumugi weakly said,

The class slowly untangled themselves from one another which resulted in a mass stretching session. 

“Who knew the bear was so strong?” Maki said, stretching out her legs,

“Tell me about it,” Kokichi said, “Now where the hell are we?”

They looked around. It seemed like they were in a toy store of sorts. It was very different compared to the outdoorsy feel of the previous room considering that everything was decked high to low with stuffed animals. 

“So what now?” Tenko said,

“I guess we look around?” Rantaro responded,

With that, everyone went out to start investigating. The first thing that Shuichi went to look at was the pile of strawberry colored stuffed dogs. He picked one up, feeling the soft fur and observing the purple spot over its eye,

_ It’s kind of cute… What’s this? _

He saw a black collar wrapped around its neck with a hexagon-shaped tag attached to it. On the tag was a weird spiral of sorts. He picked up another dog, finding that it had the same collar except this time it had a triangle tag with an X with dots in it.

_ Weir- _

**AGHHHH!!!**

Everyone ran to where the scream was. When everyone got there, they found Kokichi on the floor staring at the small child in front of him. 

“He-Help me…” the little girl cried into her hands, “Please help me…”

There was something about the girl that struck odd to Shuichi as he looked at her. Everything about her seemed… muted. Her pale skin was just as pale as her muted blonde hair. She wore a frilly gray dress with a muted green sash around it. 

Rantaro dropped to his knees in front of the girl, “Hi, my name is Rantaro Amami. What’s your name?”

“... Amelia.”

“Nice to meet you, Sachi. Now what do you need help with?”

The girl cried so much, “M-My bunny! My sisters took my bunny from me and ripped it in two!”

“Your sisters? That doesn’t sound very nice… Why did they do that?” Rantaro said softly,

“Th-They say that it’s ugly because it’s unsymmetrical! They say that… all unsymmetrical things are ugly and must be destroyed… I-I tried to stop them from hurting Monomi, b-but then they hurt me and then they cut her up and then hid her from me!!!”

She opened her eyes, revealing a teary set of muted blue and green eyes. The group looked at each other as Rantaro dropped his voice even softer,

“Amelia, can you tell me how they hurt you?”

She sniffled before turning around. A large set of scissors was embedded into her back, way too deep for a 7 year old girl to survive,

Shuichi could feel Kaito shift uncomfortably behind him: “She better not be…”

“Is it alright if I touch you?” Rantaro asked.

The little girl nodded as big fat tears rolled down her cheeks. The Adventurer reached out shakily towards her back, his hand going straight through her.

Shuichi heard something heavy drop behind him. He turned around to find an unconscious Kaito on the floor. The little girl started crying harder. Rantaro shot a glare at the group obviously saying:

_ Get him out of here! _

Gonta picked up the astronaut bridal style and brought him over to the opposite corner, trying to get him to wake up. Maki followed him,

“So sorry about that, Amelia… He’s just…” he looked to the group for help,

“Anemic?” Kiibo fibbed,

“Exactly,” Rantaro said with a gentle smile, “So you want us to help find you find the parts of the bunny?”

The little girl nodded,

“Please… It’s a pink and white bunny… They split it right in half…” The little girl blubbered, “But you got to be careful! My sisters are still around! If you guys hear a bell ring, you guys must hide or else their friends will get you and take you away…”

The chime of a bell resounded. 

“Ahhh! That’s them!” the little girl screamed, fading out.

Everyone rushed to find a hiding spot. Maki positioned herself behind the door, Rantaro and Kiibo ran behind the desk, and Kaede was crouched behind a pile of stuffed unicorns. Shuichi ducked behind a shelf of cute ducks as a giant stuffed rabbit stepped into the store.

It waddled around before going behind the counter. Shuichi saw Kiibo being hoisted onto its shoulders,

“Ahhhhh! Rantaro! Hellllppppp!”

As soon as Kiibo’s screams couldn’t be heard, everyone came out of their hiding spot. 

“What was that?” Hoshi yelled,

“I-It looked like a giant rabbit!” Tsumugi responded,

“It was a good thing Gonta brought Kaito with him…” 

The now conscious astronaut groaned out: “We… Gotta go... After them…”

“No, we can’t!” the little girl came back. This time Kaito didn’t faint, but instead decided to hide behind Shuichi, “I’m sure your friend won’t be hurt, but they’ll just keep coming back until you find my bunny!”

“So it seems that we have to find the bunny before we all get taken.” Shuichi said,

“Oh! I think I found something earlier!” Miu exclaimed,

The entire group followed her to the main display in the middle of the store. It was a large tower shelf filled with different kinds of toys on it. 

“I decided to hide behind this piece of shit when I knocked over some toys! And look!”

She pushed some toys off the shelf revealing a brown box within the shelf. She pulled it out. On top of it was a design. 

_ A pentagon with a diamond, a square with a circle with a sideways cross, a nonagon with an X with dots, and… A hexagon with a spiral! _

“Wait, I recognize this!” Shuichi yelled as he ran over to where the strawberry dogs were. He dug around to find the specific dog, “Look at this tag! It matches exactly to the last one!”

“Oh! Look!” Kaede said, “You could put the tag in!”

She ripped off the collar and took the tag from it, and placed it in the correct spot. Once she did, a click could be heard from the box,

“Oh, I see!” Angie said, “We just need to find the animals with the correct tags!”

“Alright everyone!” Rantaro yelled, “Look for a pentagram with a diamond, a square with a circle emblem, and a nonagon with an X on i-”

Another chime rang out. 

Everyone rushed to find a spot to hide. Hoshi jumped into a pen full of giant bears, Kokichi slid himself between two shelves, and Tenko hid behind a cardboard cutout. The only one who couldn’t find a spot was Gonta who was struggling to find a place large enough to hide. 

This time a giant bear stepped into the store. Shuichi watched as Gonta grabbed a random mascot head of a rabbit and shoved it on his head as he stood very still. The bear passed through the door, checking every corner. When the bear passed by Gonta, it seemed to stare very intently into the mascot head’s eyes before turning and going to the opposite side of the store. Shuichi heard a girl scream from a shelf that he couldn’t see. 

Once the screaming had ended, everyone peeked their head out.

“They just took Angie!” Kirumi said as she appeared behind the counter,

“Doesn’t matter!” Kokichi yelled as he went through a barrel of monkeys, “Just keep looking!”

Everyone went into a fervor of just ripping toys from the shelves. As Shuichi was going through a pile of pigs did he notice something,

“Guys! I found another box!” He pulled it out and inspected the designs, “We also need a triangle with the circle, a heptagon with an X, a circle with a spiral, and a square with a diamond!”

“Oh!” Kaito yelled, holding a pink sheep up, “I have the triangle with the circle thing!”

“I also have the heptagon with the X!” Miu yelled,

The two rushed to Shuichi, clicking the two tags in. 

“Alright. I’m going to leave this on the counter!” Shuichi ran to the counter and plopped the box down. He ran over to a shelf of frogs in the front of the store to start inspecting,

From afar, he could hear Tsumugi scream that she got the nonagon tag. 

Another chime rang out.

“Oh no,” Shuichi whispered to himself as he saw the large duck approaching the store. He pulled himself as close as he could to the shelf, hoping that the duck wouldn’t notice him. The duck stopped in the doorway

_ Of course he had to stop right next to me. _

He held his breath as the duck inspected the room, and exhaled in relief when he felt the duck leave. 

_ Oh than- _

He felt something pull on his arm, dragging him out of his hiding spot. He looked up to meet the beady eyes of the duck. As the duck started dragging him away, he found himself struggling to get himself out of its grip,

“Ah! No! Let go of me!”

“Hey! Let go of him!”

Kaito jumped off of the counter and hung onto the duck’s head, throwing punches into its eyes. Shuichi fell backwards as the duck let him go. 

“Shuichi, go! Hide!”

The detective ran behind a large shelf at the back of the store. He could hear Kaito’s manly yells getting fainter and fainter.

“What the hell happened?” Miu yelled as she crawled out of the bottom of a pen

“Kaito attacked it and was dragged off!” Tsumugi yelled as she stepped down from a curtained display,

_ Kaito… Why did you do that? _

Everyone went back to work. For a moment, no one seemed to be able to find anything until Kaede found the pentagon tag.

“Guys! I found the pentag-”

Another chime rang.

“Wait, another one?” Hoshi yelled, “Isn’t that too soon?”

“Go! Go! Go!” Kokichi yelled out to the group, “This one is sprinting it’s way here!” 

Shuichi crouched behind a small display, hoping that this time it would cover him. From his spot, he could see Miu struggle to get behind a shelf before a Hamster burst into the room and dragged her away screaming.

“I believe the intervals between are getting shorter!” Kirumi said,

“Then we just got to keep on searching!” Rantaro said,

After that, the search continued. Rantaro ended up finding the square tag with the diamond about 5 minutes in and Kokichi seemed to find the other square tag with the circle moments later. As Kokichi clicked in the last tag, the lid popped open.

“Guys! We have a box open!” Kokichi yelled, receiving a wave of cheers from the rest of the class, “We got… Half of a bunny!”

He held the ripped white bunny on top of his head like a prize.

_ One more to go! We just need to find the circle with a spiral on it… Where could it be? _

Shuichi looked around the store. At this point, the entire store looked like it was ransacked with stuff toys littering the floors. There really didn’t seem to be any stuff toys on any shelves anymore.

“Guys, I think we need to start searching the ones on the floor now,” Kaede yelled to the group, “Toss them back on the shelf or in a bin after they’ve been searched!”

Everyone took to the ground as they searched the multitudes of stuffed animals. 

_ Circle. No. Circle. No. Circle. Yes, but not a spiral. Circle…  _

Another chime went off.

“Not again!” Gonta screamed as he stuffed the mascot head back on his own,

This time a pig walked in from the opposite end of the store. He saw the feet of the pig go slowly at first until it suddenly disappeared. He heard Tsumugi scream loudly before she was dragged out.

“Dude… That one was just harsh!” Kokichi said, standing up from inside a pen of rats, “He literally climbed on top of the shelf before dogpiling on to her!”

“Do you really need to give commentary?” Maki yelled from across the store,

“What? I thought it was insightful to share!” 

“Guys! Shut up!” Tenko yelled, “I found the last one!”

They all gathered towards the box as Tenko clicked in the last tag. The lid popped open, revealing the second pink half of the bunny.

“Wow!” the little girl appeared, “You found my bunny! Now we just need to stitch her back together!”

The group sighed in relief.

“If I’m correct,” Kirumi said calmly, “The sewing supplies should be behind the counter.”

She looked behind the counter, shuffling around.

“That’s odd. I can’t find them.”

“Maybe there’s a closet? Like an employee’s closet where they keep supplies?” Kaede asked,

“There is no supply room here.” Hoshi replied,

“Oh? Are you looking for these?” 

Everyone turned to the entrance of the store. Two girls, about 10 years old, stood in its doorway holding a pair of white thread and a needle. Unlike Amelia, these girls were much more vibrant. They both had long beautiful golden curls, pure white dresses, pretty pink bows and sashes adorned them and golden bloody scissors in their hands. 

Amelia cowered behind Rantaro’s back. Rantaro carefully approached the two girls,

“What you’re doing is not very nice. Just give your big brother the thread and needle.”

The two girls, in perfect unison, shook their heads.

“You can’t treat us like little kids anymore!” One girl said,

“Yeah! And you can’t tell us what to do!” the other girl yelled, “Because we have your friends and if you don’t do what we say we’ll kill them!”

“... So, what do you want?” Rantaro asked,

“Simple. Since you guys are the winners of the last game, we won’t bother you anymore, but the people who lost? Well, we want two of them to play in our own personal game.” 

“All we want,” one girl explained, “Is for you guys to vote which of the losers to play.”

“So, big brother,” the little girls said in unison, “What are you going to do?”

\---

“Wait. So we only have 5 people to pick from?” Gonta asked, “Gonta thinks that’s way too little!”

“Well, there’s nothing really much we can do, big guy,” Hoshi replied, “Not with those little monsters.”

“Not like you’re not a little monster yourself. Mister Murderer,” Kokichi replied. “I mean, I’ve totally killed tons of guys in my life, but smashing their heads with a metal tennis ball? Now that’s what I call monstrous.”

Hoshi flared up in anger, “Why you-!”

“Guys! Quit fighting!” Rantaro spoke up, “We have to start deciding who to pick. I don’t think those little girls are going to be very patient.”

Everyone went back to the awful silence, thinking about their decisions. At the same time, Shuichi decided his own,

_ Do I pick Kiibo? He didn’t really do anything to help, but he’s not a bad guy. _

_ Or do I pick Angie? She’s someone who has done terrible things, but if I do I might start the feud between her and Tenko again. _

_ What if I pick Kaito? He saved me! Why would I pick him? _

_ What about Miu? She can be really inappropriate at times, but she does mean well and she did a lot for us this round. _

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> VOTE BELOW:
> 
> https://linkto.run/p/U62KTJE3
> 
> I had a lot of fun writing this one chapter because I used my DnD dice to see everyone's chances of getting caught! I thought you guys might enjoy this little bit of information!
> 
> Shuichi: +0 | Rolled a: 19 --> 19  
> Kaede: +0 | Rolled a: 12 --> 12  
> Rantaro: +3 | Rolled a: 13 --> 16  
> Tsumugi: -1 | Rolled a: 8 --> 7  
> Kirumi: +2 | Rolled a: 18 --> 20  
> Hoshi: +3 | Rolled a:19 --> 21  
> Kaito: -1 | Rolled a: 2 --> 1  
> Kokichi: +3 | Rolled a: 17 --> 20  
> Gonta: -3 | Rolled a: 20 --> 17 (that's why I gave him a stupid way to not get caught)  
> Miu: -1 | Rolled a: 7 --> 6  
> Kiibo: -2 | Rolled a: 1 --> -1 (Hence why he was the first)  
> Angie: +1 | Rolled a: 1 --> 2   
> Tenko: +1 | Rolled a: 11 --> 12
> 
> Tell me how you liked this chapter or the story in general! Comments are very much appreciated!


	10. Chapter 3.5: Differences in the Heart

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Sorry for the hiatus! I never really thought how busy I would get since I had finals and I got a job! Hopefully, now that it's summer I can start posting more regularly!

“Shuichi, it’s your turn.” Kirumi said as she entered the store.

The Detective nodded before proceeding to walk out. Outside of the store, the twins were happily chatting to one another as they waited for him. If it wasn’t for the monstrous mascots or the 5 gagged teenagers left on the floor, he would have thought that the girls were simply having a Girls Day.

“Big brother, are you ready?” One girl asked innocently as he approached

“Which one of your friends are you going to pick?” The other asked.

Shuichi closed his eyes as he picked out his card. He had already made his decision in the store that he would pick Tsumugi. He wasn’t sure why, but a gut feeling told him to do it.

“Alright! That’s everyone!” The twins said happily as they brought the card into the small deck, “Can everyone please come here? We’re now going to decide who goes in!”

As everyone gathered in front of the little girls, the one not holding the deck stood up on the table as the other one shuffled the deck. She cleared her throat:

“Is that everyone? Good. We will now decide which of these losers gets to play with us in our fun little game!”

Shuichi could feel the suspension in the entire class. 

_ Please don’t pick Kaito. Please don’t pick Kaito. Please don’t pick Kaito. _

“The Ultimate Robot,” the little girl said, revealing the first card, “And the Ultimate Artist.”

A muffled shout was heard from Kiibo. Shuichi stared at the distressed robot as he blubbered through his gag, unsure if he was the robot or was Angie. She just sat there. Still and lifeless. The once fiery anger in her eyes had now died to muted apathy. 

“I-I didn’t vote for her… Why is she… Who...”

Tenko stood behind him, holding a hand in front of her open mouth, as despair and confusion swirled in her eyes.

“Yay! Now we have more toys to play with!” the girl on the chair said as she leaped off and hugged her sister, “Beary. Bunny. Bring our new toys to the playroom. The rest of you, sit tight and we’ll see you in a bit!”

The blonde girl flashed a pearly white smile as her and her sister walked away in childish glee. The entire class watched as both of their classmates were hauled away, a certain emptiness resting on all of them.

\---

The two teenagers were thrown in a completely new room. Almost completely different from the loud and colorful toy store they were in before. It was more muted, more elegant as there was nothing but dull marble walls surrounding them and the looming great white door ahead of them.

“I-Is this where the game is going to be?” Kiibo stammered, obviously more distraught than his partner as she seemed more tired than anything. 

“No, silly!” The two girls chirped, “This is just the waiting room! The real fun is inside!”

If Kiibo were human, he’d probably be a sweaty mess right now considering how anxious he was. He darted his eyes around the room. To the creepy girls at the front, to the even more creepier monster stuff toys behind him, and Angie’s empty and tired expression.

“Mr. Robot? Are you listening?” 

“Ah! Yeah! Yes, I am!” he bit his robotic tongue as he was pretty sure that it would be ripped out if he told the girls about their robophobic language.

“This is exactly why adults suck…” she huffed, “Anyways, as I was saying, you two will have to compete against each other in a game. In this game, one of you will enter this room at a time and you will have 1 minute to find the 10 differences that are in this room. Once your time is over, you will have to come back here to the waiting room and the next person will go into the room. Whoever finds 5 differences first will be declared the winner!”

“That sounds pretty simple…” Kiibo whispered,

“A little too simple…” Angie whispered back, “Something seems suspicious about it.”

“I mean they are kids after all. Maybe this won’t be so bad.” Kiibo gave a small apologetic smile and reached out to hold Angie’s hand for comfort. He knew that she reciprocated love through touch so if his cold metal hands could be comforting in any way, he’d be happy. After all, he was made to be a Care Robot in the first place. He felt Angie squeeze in return as she gave a small tired smile.

“To decide who goes in the room first, let’s flip a coin!” One of the little girls pulled out a gold coin from the inside of her pocket dress, “Alright, go ahead and call on it!”

As the coin soared through the air, Kiibo’s heart soared as well. He knew that if he wanted to win, going first would prove to be a great advantage, “HEADS!” he cried,

“TAILS!”

The two teenagers watched in anticipation as the little girl caught it on the back of her hand, using her other hand to cover the results. She gave a sweet smile:

“Big sister, you’re up first.”

Angie approached the door as two of the giant stuffed animals took the handles. The little girls giggled together as they chanted,

“On your mark, get ready, set… GO!”

The moment the doors were open Angie flung herself in the room.

“Oh dear Atua…” 

She looked in shock at the dirty room. Toys, clothes, and furniture was trashed everywhere. She could barely see the floor or the two beds that laid on the other side of the room, but if Angie looked closely she could see that despite the mess, it was perfectly symmetrical down the space between the two beds. 

“Hee hee hee… Sorry, we would’ve cleaned up if we knew that company was coming over!” One of the little girls giggled,

“But don’t worry about messing it up even more! Things will go back to their rightful position once your turn is over!” The other one called out,

“Angie, go!” Kiibo yelled out, “Your time is running out!”

Angie looked at the clock at the center of the room. 40 seconds.

She looked around the floor, trying to find the tiniest of differences between the litter on the floor.

“3! 2! 1! Your time is up!” the little girls called as a bell went off, “Come back!”

Angie sighed as she turned on her heel and exited the room. As she left, the two toy guards closed the door behind her.

“Okay, Mr. Robot Man, your turn.” Kiibo hesitantly waited in front of the door, “On your mark… Get ready… Set… GO!”

Once again, the doors opened and Kiibo saw the monstrosity himself. He immediately dived into the two piles of clothes closest to the doors, trying to find anything that was different. Soon enough, the bell sounded off and he trudged his way back to the waiting room. Somehow, he already felt winded.

When he came back, he already saw Angie readying herself at the door and the moment he stepped inside, she ran out. He looked at the girls for an answer,

“What? You geezers were too slow so now you’re going the moment she comes back.” 

\---

Angie once again looked to the floor. This time dropping down low to really take a closer look at everything. She reached underneath one of the beds, pulling out a baby doll. It had a green plaid dress on. She put it on the bed before reaching underneath the other bed, finding the second baby doll. This time, it was wearing a pink plaid dress. She raised both dolls in the air:

“I found one! It’s the dolls!” The pleasant sound of chimes rang through the room as the dolls dissolved into white dust. 

“You found one!” the girls cried, “But too bad that you’re out of time!”

The sound of the bell then chimed afterwards, and Angie jogged her way back to the room, feeling slightly more confident than she had before.

\---

After running back into the waiting area, what felt to be the 50th time, Angie crashed into the wall of the waiting room. In the time that has passed, she had already found 3 differences whereas Kiibo had simply found one, but she didn’t know if she could maintain her lead. The simple game of find-the-differences had become an endurance game, and as Kiibo was a robot and could not possibly feel tired, she found herself slowly getting weaker.

“I found another one!” Kiibo yelled, “The pillows! That one doesn’t have a bee on it!”

Angie grimaced at the sound of chimes. Now the robot was only one away from her score.

_ What do I do? What do I do?  _ Angie stressed to herself  _ Atua, give me strength! _

_ “Please, Angie. I don’t want to compete with you! I don’t want to play, but I don’t want to die either! Please stay with me!” _

Angie watched emptily as Kiibo tore through the room. The desperation and the fear was a grim reminder of the friend she betrayed. She could feel her heart tighten,

_ Atua, is this punishment for betraying Himiko? To go through another one of these god forsaken games and kill another one of my friends? Or is this your way of saying that I should sacrifice myself for his sake?  _ Angie closed her eyes as she heard the bell  _ Atua, what are you trying to tell me? _

[Despair has formed itself in Angie’s heart! Should she give into the despair or keep fighting to live on another day]

> Give up. 

> Keep fighting. 

**Vote below! And beware! Your vote decides their fate!**

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> VOTE BELOW: 
> 
> https://linkto.run/p/HMJGV5K7
> 
> Please comment below as I love feedback! Also, go ahead and tell me who you might think or want to survive! At the end, there will be about 3-5 survivors!


	11. Chapter 3.7- No More Pairs

Angie chose to **[Give up]**

_ I think I understand what I need to do. _

The sound of the bell rang through the building. Kiibo, looking exhausted, started making his way over to the waiting area as he stretched his lower back:

“All this dust and grime is getting in my circuits. This can’t be good for me.” he chuckled weakly, hoping to get some kind of rise out of the Artist.

“It’s alright,” Angie said as she passed him, meeting his eyes with a tired smile, “It’ll all be over soon.”

_ What does she mean by that?  _ Kiibo watched Angie intently  _ Was that meant to be a threat? _

But she just stood there. Doing nothing, but watching the hand on the clock go round. 

“Um… Big sis? You can start now.” One of the little girls said,

“I know.” Angie replied dryly, now opting to rest her tired legs on the dirty bed

“Angie, what are you doing?” Kiibo yelled, “Keep searching for more differences!”

“I don’t want to anymore,” Angie said calmly, “I don’t want to play anymore. I give up.” 

Kiibo stared in disbelief at the girl. In the short time that he knew her, he had never once heard her “I give up” and “I don’t want to”. The girl he knew was bubbly and outgoing, and treated everything with wild enthusiasm and passion. Even for the things she didn’t like, she never directly said no to (of course she always used her influence to sway the outcome to her advantage), but the girl he looked at was defeated and tired. The seemingly enthusiastic and bubbly girl was gone.

“Angie! You can’t give up now!” Kiibo screamed at her, “Don’t lose hope yet! We can still make it out of this!”

“Kiibo, you don’t understand,” Angie said weakly, opting to examine a brown stuffed bear instead of looking at the robot, “Would you rather have me hysterically fight for my life? Could you stand the guilt of winning the game as I begged for my life? Would you risk your life over mines?”

She fiddled with the pink ribbon around the bear,

“You are lucky, Kiibo. You can walk away from this knowing that you weren’t the reason I died. I have to bear the guilt of killing my only friend as she begged me not to leave her. So please, Kiibo, don’t think of this as a surrender but more as a sacrifice,” Kiibo finally met her eyes full of emptiness and despair, “I’m saving you from a lifetime of guilt.”

The bell resonated through the room. Angie stood up from her spot and started walking towards Kiibo, a peaceful smile plastered on her face, as she passed him she whispered: “The bear. The colors on the ribbon are different.” 

After that, Angie proceeded to help Kiibo find the rest of the different items. The entire time Kiibo felt an unsettling rock forming in his mechanical stomach, but everytime he saw the peaceful smile on Angie’s face, it would get a little smaller. 

It didn’t take very long to find the remaining 2 different pairs.

As the final chime rang, Kiibo could feel himself going numb.

_ This is it.  _

He looked over to Angie. She was staring at the ground in what seemed to be a peaceful smile, but he noticed the small droplets of sweat running down her forehead and the bluish tint on her face. 

“That’s the game! The winner is… Mr. Robot Man!” one of the little girls exclaimed as the monstrous stuffed toys clapped solemnly in the background.

“That was… Not as fun as I thought it would be…” the other girl pouted, “But we did get a new playmate!”

The two girls immediately ran to grab Angie’s hands. If the two girls weren’t sister-killing maniacs, it would’ve been a lovely sight of an older girl taking care of her two younger friends.

“And Mr. Robot? You can leave now,” one of the little girls said as she nuzzled her face into Angie’s side, “You’ll be given the thread and needle you were looking for by Piggy.”

The gigantic pig came forward with a circular tin box in its hands. As Kiibo hesitantly took the box, he stammered a quick thank you before turning quickly to leave through a large mahogany door.

_ Oh wait! I forgot to say goodbye to Angie! _

He turned around on his heel and made his way back to the door as he reached for the golden handle, he could hear the conversation inside.

“Alright, girls, what should we play today?”

_ That’s Angie’s voice! _

A loud humming sound was heard before one of the little girls piped up, “I know! We could play our favorite game!”

“And what might that be?” Angie questioned,

“Jack the Ripper!” the two girls exclaimed, “We used to play it with our little sister before, but she wasn’t very good at it… Maybe you’ll be better!”

Kiibo could feel the rock in his stomach growing heavier and heavier.

“Ahaha…” Angie hesitantly laughed, “And how do you play ‘Jack the Ripper’?”

“It’s simple. We’re Jack and you’re the person running away from us. If you get caught, then you get RIPPED!” A scream could be heard from the other side of the door, “Oops. Sorry. Didn’t mean to cut you just yet, Big Sis, but you understand the game right? Good. We’ll give you 10 seconds to get a head start.” 

Kiibo could hear two pairs of tiny steps make his way towards him. He scrambled away from the door as fast as he can. He had to leave. He had to leave from this sickingly sweet place now. As he ran farther and farther away from the door, only one thing was resonating in his mind,

_ I’m sorry, Angie. I’m sorry, Angie. I’m sorry. _

The rock in his stomach now weighing him down like a boulder. 


	12. Chapter 4.0: Land of Mirrors

When Kiibo stumbled into the toy store, everyone rushed to him.

“Kiibo, what happened in there?” 

“Are you okay?”

“Did you get the thread and needle?”

The robot stammered, unable to say anything coherent, when Rantaro pushed himself between the boy and the rest of the class.

“Guys, let’s give him some space.”

The class finally quieted down when Kiibo spoke in a quiet voice.

“I-I got the thread and needle, but Angie… I don’t know what happened, but midway through the game she gave up. Sh-She let me win, and I didn’t even say bye to her.”

A solemn heaviness settled on the group of teenagers. They had lost one of their most vibrant friends, and the reality of death was becoming more and more apparent. 

“Kiibo… That was her decision to make,” Kaede said, reaching a hand out to touch his shoulder, “I’m sure she was at peace knowing that she could control her end, but what’s important is that we have this.”

She took the box from him, and carefully took out the golden thread and the silver needle. 

“Kirumi? Can you sew this for us?” she asked politely, handing her the sewing supplies and the two halves of the stuffed bunny.

The maid nodded as she took the needle and thread. Everyone watched as the maid stitched the rabbit together as the two mismatched halves formed into one whole bunny. 

“Monomi!” the little ghost girl smiled, “You fixed her!”

The moment that the stuffed bunny was handed to the child her complexion seemed to brighten. Her dull grey dress turned into a snow white, the drab green ribbon was turning into a beautiful green satin, and the once solemn expression was then replaced with a happy tearful smile. 

“Thank you,” the little ghost girl said as she wiped away a tear, “I never thought I would get her back, but thanks to you, I finally feel at peace. I don’t have much to give you, but this is all I have.”

She reached into the pocket of her dress and pulled out a brass key. She walked over to Kiibo and pressed it into the palm of his hand, giving him a small reassuring smile. 

“We-We got another one!” he yelled, holding the key above his head, “Let’s keep moving!”

The entire class cheered as they followed him out the large black doors. The little ghost girl watched with a small smile on her face before disappearing again.

\---

“We got another one!” Kiibo yelled as he entered the ruin,

“Wow! You kids sure do work fast,” Monokuma said as he scurried over to take the key, “Did you friend just give up and die?”

The bear’s laugh echoed in the empty room as the entire class looked at him in disbelief. The bear looked at the kid’s empty expressions before turning back and inserting the key into the wall, “Tough crowd.”

Once the key was inserted, the ruin shook, causing most of the class to flinch in fear. 

“Alright,” Rantaro said, taking charge once again, “No time to waste. Let’s move on.”

As the class made their way to the next room, Shuichi noted the mirror statue above the door.

_ I wonder what’s going to happen in here… _

As Shuichi stepped through the door, he immediately felt fear overtake his heart.

“Wh-What the hell is this?” Miu yelled, instinctively grabbing onto Kiibo,

“Omg.omg.omg.omg.omg.omg.omg.omg.omg.” Tsumugi chanted as she fell to the ground,

Shuichi looked out into the endless blackness. It wasn’t dark as he could see all of his friends clearly, but everything around them was just black as if they somehow were in a space where nothing existed.

“Guys, look!” Maki yelled, pointing at something in the distance, “There’s something else here!”

Everyone turned their heads and noticed the large mirror farther ahead. The entire class scrambled to the mirror. Some running, some stumbling, and some crawling in fear that the floor was going to disappear at any moment.

Once Shuichi and the rest of the class had reached the mirror, they all peered inside. They could see their reflections staring back at them, but instead of the inky blackness behind them, they saw themselves standing in front of what looked to be a study. 

“Wait a minute? Is this even a mirror?” Tenko asked. She waved her hand above her head, and unsurprisingly her reflection followed.

“But how could it be reflecting a different background?” Kaito said, examining his own reflection, “This doesn’t make any sense. There’s nothing behind us, but it’s showing us an actual room.”

Everyone examined the mirror, trying to understand how it works, until Gonta spoke up:

“Look! On the wall! Gonta can see a safe!”

He pointed at the grey safe tucked inside of the mahogany desk and chair. Shuichi was impressed. He never would’ve noticed it himself if the large teen didn’t point it out.

“So what? It may be a safe, but we can’t even touch it.” Kokichi said, 

Shuichi thought long and hard. 

_ There has to be some way to solve this room. I wonder… _

“Maybe there is a way…” he said as he started walking backwards, “Everyone give me some room so I can see.”

As everyone cleared their way from the mirror, Shuichi took small steps backwards. Watching himself through the mirror as he got closer and closer to the table. 

“ACK!” he yelled as he felt a sharp corner jab into his side. He looked behind him: nothing, but when he looked back at the mirror he realized that he was standing right next to the table.

He hesitantly put his hand down on what should be the table’s surface. When he felt smooth wood underneath his fingertips, he instinctively pulled his hand back. His lips drew into a tight line as he put both hands on what seemed to be nothing, and found contact once again. Taking it even further, he used the mirror to swing himself on the desk so that he was sitting right on top of it. 

Everyone exclaimed at the sight of the detective sitting in midair.

“I see,” Kirumi said patiently, “Using the mirror will allow us to interact with the objects inside of the room. Shuichi, do you think you can get the safe?”

“Yeah,” he said, jumping off the desk. 

He pulled the invisible chair out of the way and ducked down. He looked through the mirror realizing that on the safe was a shelf on the bottom that could easily be pulled in and out. He stuck his hand in it, feeling nothing inside. He also noticed the tan piece of paper attached to the safe as well. His hand hovered around the area until he felt the parchment paper in his hands. He pulled it off the safe, and examined the empty air around him.

“I-I can’t read it.” he said,

“You idiot,” Miu said, “Did you not learn anything?”

She stomped over to him and grabbed the invisible note in the hand. She then made her way over to the mirror and opened the note in front of it:

**“Ɉɿoʜƨ m'I ,blo m'I nɘʜW .llɒɈ m'I ,ϱnυoγ m'I nɘʜW”**

“Oh for fuck’s sake! Of course it’s unreadable! Can anyone read this?”

Everyone gathered around her trying to decipher the message. It didn’t take long for Maki to figure it out.

“When I’m young, I’m tall. When I’m old, I’m short.” Maki stated, “The text is mirrored, but I have no idea what it means.”

“It’s a candle,” Kokichi said nonchalantly, “Or maybe it’s a prediction of Kaito’s impending hair loss! In a few more years, I’m sure that bushel of hair is going to fall off! Wait, is that a bald spot I see?”

Kaito instinctively raised to cover the back of his head. He glared at the Supreme Leader:

“Hey, cut with the jokes, man! You really should be taking this seriously!”

“But I am!” Kokichi whined, “I’m giving it my all!”

“That’s fucking bullsh-!”

“Kaito, he’s right,” Shuichi spoke up, “A candle. A new candle is tall, but overtime after using it again and again, it gets shorter.”

There was a moment of silence as everyone thought it over. Kaito grimaced, hating that the gremlin was right: “Fine, but what do we do with that information? Is the safe open?”

Shuichi walked back over to the empty space that was the safe. He grabbed the invisible handle and tried to pull it open. No luck.

“Nope, still locked.” he said to the group,

“Maybe we have to find a candle?” Ryoma said, taking the candy cigarette out of his mouth, “There’s one of the desk on top of you, Shuichi. Maybe we have to put it in that drawer.”

Shuichi looked through a mirror spotting the lit candle on top of the desk. He grabbed at it, feeling the invisible heat in his hands. After blowing it out, he carefully put it in the invisible drawer and closed it. 

Soon enough, a click was heard and Shuichi could finally open the safe door. He looked inside and was surprised when he could actually see the contents of the safe: it looked to be the base of a stone pyramid.

When he pulled it out, everyone brightened up. The entire class finally knew what to do. From there, they knew what to do, and split off into groups to find the remaining safes.

After discovering that the mirror could be moved and rotated, it didn’t take long for the entire class to find 3 more safes. 

“Okay, everyone, let’s bring the notes we found.” 

Kirumi, Gonta, and Kaede all came forward holding the notes that were found in front of the mirror. Maki inspected each one carefully:

“Kirumi’s says: “ **What has cities, but no houses? A forest, but no trees? Water, but no fish?”**

“What the fuck?” Ryoma says,

“I have no idea…” Kaito says, 

“Minecraft?” Kokichi says,

Gonta’s says: **“Thirty white horses on a red hill. First, they champ, then they stamp, then they stand still.”**

“I think this might have been in an anime…” Tsumugi says,

“Sounds like the Red Sand Desert.” Rantaro says,

“What is champ? I-Is that an actual word?” Kiibo says,

Kaede’s says:  **“My voice is tender. My waist is slender, and I’m often invited to play. Yet whenever I go, I must take my bow or else I have nothing to say.”** “

“It’s Kaede.” Miu says,

“Kaede.” Shuichi says,

“Kaede.” Tenko says,

The entire class laughs as Kaede’s brings her hands up to cover her bright red blushing face. She removes one to shakily point towards nothing.

“I-I think the answer is a violin… I saw one over there, but that’s really sweet of everyone to say.”

They rotated the mirror where there was indeed a violin leaning against the fireplace. Kaede walked over and took it, holding it tenderly within her arms. She placed it gently into the drawer before shutting it close. Once again, another loud click was heard and she pulled out the second piece: the middle part of the pyramid, but on one side a small portion of it was caved in.

“It kinda looks like a ball can fit in here…” She said as she placed it on top of the first piece.

“Alright, does anyone have any idea on the other two?” Rantaro said, looking at the class,

Shuichi looked across from the room. He could see Kiibo muttering quietly to himself…

“30 white horses? What has 30? Champ?” Kiibo questioned, “Chomp? Chomping?! Humans have precisely 30 teeth! T-The answer is teeth! Look for teeth!”

He rotated the mirror before pointing straight at Tenko.

“Tenko, behind you! There’s a pair of dentures in a jar on that shelf!”

The Aikido Master pulled the jar out of the shelf where a pair of old dentures laid in a jar of dirty green water. Everyone watched as Tenko put her hands in nothing, but saw as her face contorted in disgust as her hand felt around the nothingness. Soon enough, she pulled her hand out and handed the wet dentures into Kiibo’s palm.

Once Kiibo had shoved the invisible pair of teeth into the drawer, another click was heard, and he pulled out the top point of the pyramid. This one also had a caved in section as well.

“One more!” Gonta exclaimed, “We’re doing pretty well!”

“But this last one is pretty tough…” Tsumugi sighed, “I don’t have any idea what it could be…”

A moment of silence ran through the class as everyone went into deep thought.

_ What has cities, but no houses? A forest, but no trees? Water, but no fishes? I can’t think of a single thing! _

He brought himself out of his head, looking around the empty room to find everyone looking deep in thought and frustrated.

_ Everyone but Kokichi. _

Even though the entire class was standing in a circle and facing inward, the boy was facing out into the blackness with a bored look on his face as he stared at nothing.

_ What is he looking at? _

Shuichi turned his head towards the mirror. 

_ Kokichi is staring at a map. Wait a minute… _

“Guys,” Shuichi spoke up, “I think it’s a map. A map will tell of cities, forest, and bodies of water, but they won’t specify the individual houses, trees, or fish.”

A wave of praise came from all of his classmates as Kaito walked over and took the invisible map from the wall. Shuichi watched until an arm wrapped around his shoulder and made him hunch over,

“Well will you look at that,” Kokichi said, dark purple eyes staring into his own, “Looks like Shumai finally found the last piece!”

“Don’t call me that…” the Detective whispered, pushing the Supreme Leader off of him, “I wouldn’t have figured it out without you.”

“What do you mean?” Kokichi said, also bringing his voice down so that the conversation was just between the two of them, but he continued to watch Kaito as he put the map into the drawer,

“I mean you were just staring at it. Why didn’t you say anything?” Shuichi said as Kaito pulled out the final piece, “You obviously knew the answer. In fact, you knew all of them.”

The Detective would never admit it, but he had a tendency to watch the Supreme Leader from afar. Call it a habit from having to track the other boy down for the last 5 years of his life, but he had noticed that the entire time Kokichi was always staring directly at the object of the riddles. 

“I wanted to see if any of you idiots can figure them out yourselves,” Kokichi said nonchalantly, “It’s not fun if one person solves it by themselves.”

The answer shook the Detective: “Wait, why does it matter to you if it’s fu-”

“We’re done!” Kaito exclaimed, holding the finished pyramid over his head. Shuichi stared at the stone eye that was embedded in the middle of the pyramid. He shuddered.

“Finally, is it over?” the other boy exclaimed out loud, leaving Shuichi to walk towards the crowded group, “I was getting bored...”

“I hope so. I’m getting freaked out by this place,” Kaito said as he passed the finished pyramid to his girlfriend, “After we finished it, it started glowing red and this creepy message appeared.”

Shuichi walked over to the group, glaring at Kokichi for leaving him rudely during their conversation, “Message? What message?”

Maki turned the pyramid around in her hands so that the eye was staring straight at her, “It says  **‘Have a lone person hold the Statue of Sight in front of the mirror to proceed,’** “ A moment of silence ran through the class, “I guess I’ll do it.” she sighed,

She walked in front of the mirror, holding the statue in her hands and a stern glare worn on her face, and somehow Shuichi felt sorry for the next monster that was going to appear. But there was nothing.

Maki turned her head over her shoulders, “Guys, nothing is happen-”

“Hello,”

Everyone turned to see the mirror to find the kind and smiling reflection of Maki as she looked happily at everyone through the mirror. Shuichi looked at Maki’s face, and hers looked nothing as pleased as her reflection. 

“I am so happy to see that you have completed the puzzle. Yay~” Kaito choked on his spit as the reflection put her hands on her face and smiled cutely, “I am your reflection, your mirror self, and I have always been a part of you. Isn’t it wonderful that we can finally communicate with each other?”

The reflection cut off, not even reflecting Maki anymore, but the endless blackness behind them.

“W-What happened?” Maki said, getting herself away from the mirror as fast as possible, “Why did she disappear?”

“I-I have no idea, but I don’t like it one bit!” Kaito yelled, bringing Maki into a tight embrace,

“Yeah, seeing Maki act all cute is kinda gross…” Kokichi grimaced, receiving a deadly glare from the Assassin herself,

“Maybe give it to me,” Rantaro said, taking the statue, “Maybe she’ll come back.”

He walked in front of the mirror, his reflection walking towards him in tandem with his steps. It didn’t take long for a peaceful smile to take place on the reflection’s face,

“I’m sorry,” the reflection laughed. Laughed in his voice, “That happens all the time over here in the mirror world! Happens all the time~”

Rantaro frowned as he gripped the statue, “What now? How do we get the next key?”

“Straight to the point, huh?” the reflection exhaled loudly, “Fine, if you want to know so badl-”

The mirror went straight to black. This time, Tenko reluctantly stepped forward to take it,

“As I was saying,” the reflection said, “To receive the next key, you must vote for 2 of your friends to join me in my Maze of Mirrors! The loser will have to stay with me in this mirror for the rest of eternity! It’s not that bad once you get used to it… Now I’ll leave you kiddies to decide, I’ll be waiting if anyone wants to come up and vote.”

Tenko’s reflection disappeared where 13 cards took its place. Shuichi gulped, realizing it’s the voting cards that have always been used.

“W-What now?” Tenko said as she turned to the group, “How do we vote?”

Shuichi bit his bottom lip,

_ In the previous games, it was so obvious who to vote for. The first game was from a careless pick. The second was a landslide due to persuasion. And the third was from a small group of people.  _ Shuichi’s head swirled,  _ The possibilities are too wide. Almost everyone has an equal chance of being voted in!  _

“I have a suggestion,” Everyone turned to Kokichi who had a dark smile, “If we can’t seem to vote for anyone, I think the obvious answer is to choose the people who didn’t do anything! So I suggest we all state our cases on what we did to help the group that way we can single out the useless people!”

He pointed at himself, “For starters, I figured out the first riddle!”

He turned to his right, staring at Gonta to pick up the beat, “G-Gonta found two safes?”

“And I also found a safe,” Kirumi said calmly, bringing a hand to her chest,

Kaito started sweating, “I-I finished the statue…”

“No, you didn’t. Shuichi did.” Kokichi said, “You just put the finishing piece on the statue. Anyone can have done that.”

“Why don’t you lay off?” Kaito yelled, “You’re only targeting me because you want me gone!”

“You’re only saying that because you know you haven’t done a single thing for our group,” Kokichi said darkly, “To ensure the survival of the group, it should be obvious that the weakest link must go. After all, we all have to carry our weight somehow~”

“It’s no use listening to your complaining,” Kokichi said, “Maki, it’s your turn.”

She stared daggers into the boy, “I’m not playing your games, Kokichi.” she spat,

“Ugh~ Is it really so terrible of me to reveal the true nature of these games? We all may act as if we’re all friends, but in reality, we’re all enemies! We have to vote for each other to save our own skin! Regardless of the past! It’s a kill or be killed world at this ball!” 

The words, spoken with such bitterness, crept into Shuichi’s bones and buried itself deep within his gut. It was so malicious to say, but he couldn’t find himself speaking out to defend his best friend. Kokichi was wrong for suggesting such a gruesome way to vote, but he was also right in the way that it narrowed the selection and the possibility of being voted. And so, he and the rest of the class stayed quiet.

“I… I figured out the last puzzle.” Shuichi stated quietly, unable to meet Kaito’s eyes,

“I-I haven’t really done much,” Tsumugi said quietly, “But I’m always trying my best! So please don’t vote for me, because I really am doing my best!”

“I figured out the teeth riddle?” Kiibo said uncomfortably,

Everyone turned to Tenko who was standing awkwardly, the clear panic in her eyes, “I… Volunteered to stand in front of the mirror?”

“I figured out that we had to put the item in the drawer,” Ryoma said coolly, “May not be figuring out a riddle, but still an important detail.”

“W-Well,” Miu sputtered as she was on the verge of tears, “How could you guys lose a gorgeous genius girl like me? You can’t afford to be without me! W-What if we come across a machine or w-we have to do math?!”

Kaede looked solemnly at the ground, “I- I found a safe and solved a riddle.”

Everyone turned to the remaining person, “I may not have done much this round… But I want to say that I’ve done a lot for this group. I’ve done my best to lead all of you and I think we all know that I should not be the one we all should be voting for.”

“That settles it!” Kokichi exclaimed, a manic glint in his eyes, “We have 5 people to vote for: Kaito, Tsumugi, Tenko, Miu, and Rantaro (if you count him)! Hopefully, you’ll all take my suggestion to heart, and vote for any of these 5 people.”

Shuichi could feel his stomach drop.

_ Do I go with Kokichi’s suggestion and vote for someone useless to ensure my survival? Or do I vote for someone who I feel is right to go up for this challenge? Who do I vote for? _

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> VOTE BELOW:
> 
> https://linkto.run/p/2NH56L3B
> 
> FINALLY! We are at the part where the drama truly starts! I honestly feel so bad for always putting Tsumugi, Miu, Kaito, and Tenko on the chopping block, but I guess that's just how it is!
> 
> Please let me know what you think of the story so far and give me your reason for voting for a certain person! I'd love to know what you think of some of the characters!


	13. Chapter 4.5: Perception and Promises

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> YALL ARE FUCKING CHAOTIC!
> 
> I honestly could not believe that Kaito won the majority vote, but after writing this chapter, I realized that y'all had the right idea. I will never question the majority again.

A cold chill ran through Shuichi’s spine as he left the mirror, slowly trudging his way back to the group,

_ Why? Why did I do that? _

“Hey man! You good?” Kaito approached him, giving him a small slap on the back. The detective could barely murmur a response as he looked at the ground, “Hey, dude, if you need to sit down there’s a chair somewhere over here.”

He led the unsteady Detective to the invisible chair, making sure that there was something actually there before letting the other teen sit down. The entire time, his friend was looking paler by the minute,

_ The stress must finally be getting to him…  _

“I’m going to get Kirumi to take a look at you, alright? I’ll be back!”

And with that, the astronaut flashed a bright smile before running off. The rock in Shuichi’s stomach grew.

_ Kaito is so nice. He’s done everything to make sure that I’m okay. Wh-Why did I vote for him? _

Shuichi couldn’t put his finger on it, but he remembered that he felt very odd when he approached the mirror. With no thought or reason, he just instinctively reached out to Kaito’s card, but now he was regretting his impulsive decision as he saw his friend come his way with the maid in hand.

“Guys, I’m fine,” he said, gently batting away Kirumi’s gloved hand, “I-I’m just tired... That’s all. Thanks for being concerned about me, Kaito.”

He gave a small smile to Kaito before standing up. They both made their way to the mirror as the reflection was just about to reveal the participants of the next game.

_ It was just a mistake. I mean there’s plenty of other people to vote for. _

But still, he could feel himself sweating under his collar. He looked to the front as Maki’s reflection shuffled the cards in her hands, humming pleasantly to herself as she did so. It was such a jarring sight to see the Assassin so calm and happy,

“Well, I guess we should get right to it!” The reflection happily cheered, “The first participant will be… The Ultimate Cosplayer!”

Shuichi shouldn’t have felt relief when he heard the announcement, but he immediately regretted it when the girl fell to her knees in shock. Kaede and Tenko right behind her, soothing her quiet sobs. He looked back at the reflection to see a sadistic smile on her face as she took a second random card from the deck,

“And the second participant will be…” She flipped the card around in her fingers as Shuichi could feel his breath hitch in his throat, “The Ultimate Astronaut.”

He heard the quiet string of curse that spilled from Kaito’s lips as he gripped his head in frustration. Maki quickly passed the statue to Rantaro before running over to join her boyfriend who pulled her in a tight embrace. When they pulled apart, Maki’s soft face hardened once again,

“Kaito, I need to say something.” she said seriously, taking his chin into her hands as she looked him in the eyes,

“I know. I know. Be careful because I could die in ther-” he was interrupted when her hand squeezed harder,

“No,” she dropped her voice lower, making sure nobody could hear her, “Yo-You have a tendency to always play the hero. To save the helpless,” She sneaked a glance at the shaky cosplayer, “But this time, you cannot afford to do that. Even if she screams or begs for your help, don’t save her. Please… Just this once, think about yourself.”

She dropped her hands from his face, turning away in shame as he stared in shock. A strong arm wrapped around her, pulling her closer, and nestling his face in the crook of her neck,

“Don’t worry, Maki Roll, I swear on the stars that I’ll be coming back.”

When he heard the reflection call for him, he let her go. He made his way to the mirror that was now rippling like water, he waved out to his girlfriend, a large smile on his face, “I promise I’ll be back! I promise on the stars!”

And soon, he disappeared into the depths of the mirror, truly unsure if he’s able to keep that promise. 

\---

When he appears on the other side, he is met with a shaky Tsumugi and something… He felt himself going pale as he looked at the creepy figure of what looked to be a humanoid mirror, all made of glass, but with no features or details. 

The thing clapped it’s hands enthusiastically as it spoke with no mouth:

“It seems that we can start now!” the thing led the two through the empty blackness before coming to another mirror, “The rules are simple. You two must enter this mirror maze to get back to your friends, and the only way to do that is to find the perfect image of yourself. In this mirror maze, there will be many reflections of you, but if you enter the wrong mirror you will be lost here forever. You guys will have 1 hour to complete the maze, if you cannot find the correct image, then the exit will disappear.”

“A-An hour? Isn’t that too long?” Tsumugi stated, “We only have a few hours to complete this entire ruin.”

“Oh, don’t worry about that!” the reflection said, “Time moves here much slower than it does in the real world! You’ll only be gone for a few minutes!”

“Oh, thank you…”

“Anyways, as soon as one of you enters the mirror, the timer will start!” 

Kaito looked at the hesitant cosplayer who made her way towards the mirror, before she could enter, he grabbed her shoulder.

“Hey, before you go, I want to talk to you.”

“Um… Okay?”

“That… Thing never said that this was a competition. They only stated that as long as we find the right reflection we can get out. I suggest we work together to find it and leave together!”

“You’re right!” Tsumugi beamed, “Tenko told me that not all games have to result in someone dying! She said that if Korekiyo didn’t trick her then they probably would have gotten out together! You aren’t trying to trick me, right?”

Kaito reeled back, “What? No! Of course not! I’m not that big of a sleeze! I just want to escape with everyone.” 

Tsumugi took his hand within her own, small happy tears were falling down her cheeks, “Thank you! Let’s work together to get through this!”

And hand in hand, the two teenagers walked into the mirror together.

\---

“Woah…” Kaito looked at the long hallway of mirrors. Thousands of thousands of reflections all mimicking the pair in the darkness, “This is kind of trippy…”

“It’s kind of like a fun house!” Tsumugi said as she stared at herself in one of the mirrors, “I don’t think my hips are this big…”

Kaito ran to the mirror right next to her. The reflection showing him with extra long legs, “Haha! You’re right! If it’s like this we’ll find the right one in no time!” 

They continued down the hall, made turns, and even circled back when they came to a dead end. Seeing the different reflections of themselves in all the different mirrors:

One that made them short like midgets.

One that made their necks tall like a giraffe.

One that made their skin blue,

But as they went deeper and deeper in the maze, the reflections became more convoluted,

One that switched their color palettes.

One that made them look like they were from the 1800s

And Tsumugi’s favorite: the one that switched their genders (Kaito had to literally pry her off).

The two decided to take a break when they came across what seemed to be their billionth dead end. 

“Okay… I was wrong. This is going to be harder than I thought.” Kaito said as he wiped his forehead with the back of his hand,

“Yeah, and we only have about 30 minutes left....” Tsumugi said, looking at the pitch black sky where large red numbers told of the time remaining, “Maybe we should…”

She shook her head, “Nevermind.”

“What were you going to say?” Kaito said, concerned, “Anything that helps us clear this maze faster is helpful.”

“I was going to say that maybe… We should split up,” Tsumugi said hesitantly, “That way we can cover more ground.” 

“No!” Kaito yelled, scaring the poor girl, “I mean… That’s a good idea. We can split up, and if one of us finds the correct one, then we just yell for each other and then we can leave together.”

The cosplayer nodded as she stood up. When the two Ultimates found the first intersection, they then decided to split ways with Tsumugi taking the right path while Kaito took the left.

As Kaito went down the hallway of mirrors, he found himself getting chills as he stared at the countless images of himself. He missed Tsumugi. It was fun discovering all the different reflections of themselves, but now he found them just creepy. 

_ 20 more minutes… I’m not finding anyth- _

He reeled back, staring intently at a certain mirror. It was him. Just him, with no weird changes or body proportions, but just him. He turned around, making sure that it was perfect. When he found that there was no changes, he beamed happily before cupping his hands around his mouth and yelling, 

“Tsumugi! I found it! Come over!” When he heard no reply, he started yelling more, “Tsumugi! Tsumugi! TSSSSUUUUMMMUUUUGGGGIII!” 

_ No reply… How far away is she? Can she hear me?  _

He continued to scream, hoping that she would hear him. After 5 minutes of non stop screaming, he felt exhausted.

_ Still no answer! Where the hell is she? I wonder… _

He stared at his reflection. He had his way out. He could leave and finally be safe from the despairing future of wandering this mirror maze forever.

_ Just this once, think about yourself _

Maki’s words resonated in his mind. He promised her she would come back. He promised her that he would put himself first and not help Tsumugi, but something within him, couldn’t sit well with that idea.

He stared at himself, hoping to find the answer 

_ What should I do? _

[Despite promising Maki not to play the hero, he also promised Tsumugi that he would get out with her together. What should he do?]

> Keep his promise to Maki thus saving himself, but live with the fact that he couldn’t save Tsumugi

> Keep his promise to Maki thus going out to find her, but deal with the possibility of not being able to get back in time

**Vote below! And beware! Your decision affects their fate!**

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> VOTE BELOW: 
> 
> https://linkto.run/p/CV695MO0
> 
> If you enjoy this series, please leave a comment or a kudo as all comments are appreciated! I'd love to hear what you guys think of the series so far!


	14. Chapter 4.7: Broken Shards of Glass

_ I made a promise to her, and I intend to keep it. I’m sorry, Tsumugi… _

He looked at the clock: 14:57

_ She still has about 15 minutes left… _

He took a deep breath before screaming out: ‘TSSSSUUUUMMMMUUUGGGGIIIII!!!!’

He didn’t wait for the reply before stepping into the mirror.

\---

Tsumugi stopped in her tracks.

_ Did I just hear something? _

She looked up at the sky, but when she didn’t hear anything again, she continued to walk down the lonely corridor of mazes. 

_ No, I must be imagining it… I’m pretty sure if he found it, he would be running all over the place to find me. _

That’s what Tsumugi liked about Kaito the most. He was like the main character of a shonen anime. He was flashy, and funny, and always had a tendency to put others before himself. It was no wonder that she always watched the other boy from a distance, wanting to close the distance between them, but she couldn’t force herself to approach him. 

_ What a silly thought! He wouldn’t like to be with a plain girl like me! _

She turned the corner, looking at the abstract reflections of herself. She stared at a particular one. At first glance, she was wondering why it reflected the Ultimate Fashionista, but as she stared closer she recognized her nose and the small sun spot on her neck. It was her, dressing as if she was Junko Enoshima.

_ Weird… I sure do wonder why it would reflect that…  _

She shrugged it off before continuing to walk down the hall, her mind drifting back to Kaito.

_ I’m really lucky to be voted in with him. I feel happy knowing that we can work together. But I wonder if he’s having better luck than I am… _

She looked at the clock: 10:36.

She could feel her hands start to become sweaty. Time was cutting way too close for her liking. She started to walk faster,

_ Maybe hes having trouble just like me. I mean this is a really big maze after all… _

She looked to the clock once more: 9:48

She could feel her breath catch in her throat as she walked even faster. The reflections all mirroring her distressed face. She cupped her hands around her mouth and yelled:

“Uh… Kaito? How are you doing over there?”

She shuddered at the silence. 

_ Why isn’t he responding? Is he far away? Or did he- _

She stopped. Dead end, and none of the reflections were correct. 

7:24 

She turned on her heel and bolted down the corridor.

“Kaito! Kaito! If you can hear me, please respond! Why aren’t you calling back?”

She looked at the reflections whizzing as they passed her.

Her but with ginormous feet.

Her but holding an umbrella. 

Her but in a purple uniform.

5:30

She collapsed on the ground, her cheek slamming hard on the ground. She looked behind her to find the broken golden heel of her expensive heels. She threw it off before feeling the hot wet tears slide down her face.

_ Please don’t leave me. I don’t want to be alone. I don’t want to die. _

She looked ahead. Another dead end. Her and her reflections wailed in collective agony, but as she shakily stood up, she stared at the mirror at the dead end and she could see the mess that had become: standing on one heel, her time-consuming elegant up-do was falling out, and her mascara was running down her face.

But it was her. 

She got closer. Touching the reflection and examining it closely. It was her eyes, her nose, her waist, her legs. 

_ But why does my dress kind of look blue?  _

She looked to the clock: 1:49

_ It must be the lighting… But there's not enough time for Kaito to get here. _

She looked hesitantly out the corridor hoping that maybe the Astronaut would be just around the corner. She turned back towards the mirror, pressing her hand to it and watching it dip into the reflection.

_ I-I’m so sorry Kaito… _

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> So it turns out you guys were just as conflicted as I was. i did not expect there to be a 1 vote difference between the two choices. Hopefully, you guys are happy with the end result.
> 
> Also the comments were very uplifting, and I would love to hear more from you guys! Thank you so much for reading!


	15. Chapter 5.0: The Bomb Factory

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> It's not Escape the Night if a hot NPC doesn't show up

When Kaito passed through the mirror, he found another long hallway of mirrors. He felt his stomach dropping,

_ Fuck… Did I mess up?  _

He imagined the rest of his life, wandering the lonely halls with nobody but reflections of himself, he shuddered at the thought:

_ No! I can’t think like that! I need to get back to Maki! _

He started walking when he realized that he could see through them, like they were windows rather than mirrors, reflecting the black void beyond. 

“I-I’m so sorry, Kaito…”

The astronaut stopped in his tracks, wondering where the disembodied voice came from,

_ That was Tsumugi! Where is she? _

Frantically looking, he turned around to find her in the distance, wandering the void oddly. He yelled to get her attention:

“Tsumugi! Hey Tsumugi!” When the girl didn’t look in his direction, he cursed to himself, “Damn, that girl really is deaf…”

“She’s not deaf at all. She just can’t hear you.” the glass demon spoke calmly beside him,

Kaito screamed a quite non-manly scream as he scrambled away from the humanoid reflection. He was right afterall. He made the wrong choice, and now he’s going to die from the hands of this ghost-monster-mirror-whatever-thing.

“You humans sure are an expressive bunch,” it chuckled playfully, “I like that. You should have seen her! ‘Kaito, where are you?’ ‘Kaito, why aren’t you answering?’ “ it mocked in a perfect reflection of the Cosplayer’s voice, “Oh, get up. Don’t you want to see your friends?”

Kaito stopped his whimpering as he hesitantly stood up, “S-So you aren’t here to kill me?”

“No, why should I?” it scoffed, “You found the correct reflection and won the game! A shame though really. You both could have made it out together, but what did I expect from humans? You sure are a selfish bunch!”

“Wait, you mean… We both could’ve gotten out together?” guilt built itself inside Kaito’s heart,

“Yeah. If only you had gone and found her instead of abandoning her to a lifetime of wandering these mirror halls forever,” the reflection sighed heavily, “What a tragedy~ I was really rooting for the both of you…”

He looked out at the distance as he watched Tsumugi wander through an invisible maze. Guilt overflowed inside of him. He could’ve saved her. He had the power to go and find her, but he chose to abandon her like a coward. He felt angry tears starting to form as he charged forward and slammed the reflection into the wall of mirrors, 

“Why? Why would you have us play this sick game if we both could have lived?!”

The reflection smiled, perfect white teeth displayed over the expressionless mirror face, “Reflections do not only show you your outward appearance. They can show you what your true nature is like, and you,” it said, jabbing a finger in the middle of Kaito’s chest, “are just a cowardly hero.”

The finger melted as the liquid started spreading all over his chest. Kaito stumbled back as the monster melted before him and over him, soon encasing his lower body in a liquid mirror case. He screamed as it consumed him further, crawling up his neck, and over his face. It’s words ringing in his head:

_ See you later, cowardly hero. _

\---

Kaito fell out of the mirror, landing on his stomach. He scrambled to his feet, crawling as far away as he could from the mirror, but soon he realized that the monster was the least of his problems. 

He looked up to find the terrifying sight of his girlfriend holding the Supreme Leader off the ground by his neck. Everyone in the room, too shocked to even move,

“Y-You’re really going to kill me in front of everyone?” Kokichi choked, “G-going to kill me before th-those monsters can?”

“Maki, calm down… Please…” Kaede pleaded, “I’m sure he didn’t mean what he said…”

“Oh, I mean every word I said,” Kokichi said, with a hesitant grin, “Y-You’re boyfriend… is weak… I-I doubt that brainless idiot will make it out alive.”

Everyone started to scream as Maki’s grip grew stronger and Kokichi’s face started to turn blue,

“Maki! Stop!” Kaito yelled.

Everyone turned to him in shock, not even aware that he was there. Maki immediately dropped Kokichi, who then started coughing uncontrollably, as she ran into the astronaut’s arms. Kaito wrapped his arms around her, nuzzling his face on the top of her head,

_ This. This is what I fought for. I’m so sorry Tsumugi, but I have to fight for the people I love. _

She finally pulled back, wiping away a single tear before reaching out to grab at something around his neck: “A key. You got another key.”

He looked down where a key was dangling by a rope necklace around his neck, when did that get there?

“I-I guess I did…” he said, he turned to the class waving the key in the air, “Everyone, let’s get the hell out of here.”

\---

As the class left the room of darkness, Shuichi walked behind everyone else. He was so surprised and happy when he saw Kaito, but soon the overwhelming guilt overtook him and he found himself unable to approach him. 

_ How can I just casually talk to the person I just voted in? I-I can’t even face him anymore without feeling guilty… _

He watched as Kaito handed the key over to Monokuma. When the ruins had stopped shaking, he felt someone nudge him.

“Hey, Shuichi, are you okay?” He looked into concerned lavender eyes, “You haven’t been the same since we left that other room.”

“Kaede, I-I feel guilty...”

“Why?” she said as the group walked over to the next door, “Did you vote for Tsumugi?”

“I voted for Kaito… I-I don’t know why! He’s been looking out for me this entire time, and I voted him in to die! How can I face him?”

“Shuichi…” Kaede said, looking to the ground, “Voting for your friends… No matter who it is… Is Rough. I-I’m sure that every single person carries the burden for voting in someone. Everyone I have voted for has died. Himiko, Angie, Tsumugi. They were all dear friends to me, but I still did it. Shuichi, what you did was terrible, but Kaito is still alive. I’m sure that you can make it up to him down the line.”

She gave him a small reassuring smile as they walked into the next room together. 

\---

When they walked into the next room, the first thing Shuichi noticed was the humidity. They were in what looked to be a workshop of some kind. Machinery and tools were stashed everywhere as the pipes overhead let out bursts of steam.

He then noticed that the entire class was wearing dark blue mechanic jumpers. When he looked closely at it, he noticed the logo was a cartoon bomb encased in a black circle. The words  _ Bursting Bomb Co.  _ and his name were stitched below.

“Ewwww, I look like that shithead: Souda-sempai!” Miu complained out loud as she wrestled herself out of the jumper, opting to just remove the top portion of it and tying the sleeves around her waist (thank god that she was wearing a white tank underneath).

The class examined their surroundings before a barrage of loud banging was heard on the other side of the room:

“I-Is someone there? Help! Please get me out of here!”

Everyone turned to the noise to find a closed locker. They could see that something inside was shaking it from within.

Gonta immediately stepped forward, “Gonta will help!” He tried to pry the door open with his hands, but surprisingly it didn’t budge. He looked back at the class with panic, “Gonta can’t help.”

“I-Is there something we can do? Is there a key?” Kaede asked the man inside the locker,

“Y-Yes! I accidentally trapped myself when I was trying to repair this returned Bomb Locker, and if I don’t get out within the next 10 minutes, the inside of this locker will explode! T-There should be a box connected to it! The one with 4 lightbulbs sticking out from the top? If you guys can get all 4 lights to turn on, then you can get me out of here! Please hurry!”

Everyone rushed to crowd around the box. As they looked closer, they realized that every side of the box was an individual puzzle. Shuichi could guess that each puzzle correlated with one lightbulb.

He looked at the side closest to him. 

_ Connect the pipes to the correct valve. _

On the side of the table was 4 pipes where each had a different colored ring (red, yellow, green, blue) at the mouth where the smell of rotten eggs were coming out. He felt a little dizzy before he felt someone grab the back of his head,

“Hey, Pooichi. What the fuck are you trying to do? Kill yourself?” Miu said, her voice slightly muffled by the red mask covering her lower face, “That smell is hydrogen sulfide. Take a few more whiffs of that and I’m sure you’ll experience more convulsions than sniffing paint. There should be a mask in your pocket.”

Shuichi rummaged around in his pocket where he found a similar red mask. He put it on, and soon others followed suit when they noticed that more and more people were wearing masks.

“Now where were we…” Miu said as she bent over to look at the puzzle, “Oh fuck! Connect the pipes to the right valves? There’s a ton of them!”

True to her word, there was definitely more than a few valves, but as he looked closer he realized that letters were inscribed at the tops of each valve.

“There’s 24 valves. One for each letter of the alphabet. We need to find something with these colors and letters.” 

The two started searching the room frantically until Ryoma spoke up:

“Guys! I found whistles on the wall! Is this someone’s clue? There’s four of them.”

Everyone looked at the wall where there were a red whistle, a green whistle, a yellow whistle, and a blue whistle ringing out. 

“That’s ours!” Miu yelled as she dragged Shuichi along.

They examined the whistles, finding out that each sang one at a time as smoke would come out,

The red one would fire a long tweet, then 2 short tweets, and then another long tweet

The green one would fire a long tweet followed by 3 short tweets

The yellow one would fire 4 short tweets

While the blue one would fire 2 long tweets before letting out a short tweet

Upon hearing it, Shuichi immediately knew what it was.

“It’s morse code. It’s one of the first things that my uncle taught me. Miu, I need you to stand by the box and do what I say.”

Miu whimpered a little, surprised (and slightly horny) at the sudden authority the Detective was showing. She went to the box, giving him a thumbs up to indicate that she was ready.

The first whistle went off.

“Red to X.”

Then the second whistle went off.

“Green to B.”

Then the third whistle went off.

“Yellow to… Uh… H?”

And then the fourth whistle ended the entire song.

“Blue to G.”

Shuichi heard the final click of the fourth pipe before turning around and seeing the bright yellow lightbulb on.

“Alright! We did it! Suck it fuckers! We got it first!” Miu boasted,

“We’re not that far away from you, Miu.” Kaede said, slightly annoyed, “Gonta, is that the last gear? Thank you.”

And soon, the second light flashed bright as well.

“Hello? Please hurry up! I only have 4 more minutes left!” the man in the box yelled,

“What do we have left?” Shuichi said, moving beside Tenko to see the remaining puzzles,

“The puzzle that Kirumi and Kiibo is working on is one where they have to match the blue and red puzzle pieces to the blue and red squares while Rantaro and I are trying to turn these gears so that the symbols match up.”

Shuichi watched as the two fiddled with the three large gears. He could definitely see their problem. Everytime they lined one symbol correctly, the other two would be completely wrong, and turning one would misalign all of the symbols.

“Do you guys need help?” Shuichi asked,

“No it’s alright, because I think I got it.” Rantaro responded cooly,

The third lightbulb lit up as another sudden barrage of pounding:

“Guys! One more minute! Please hurry up!” 

He looked at the large group that surrounded the Maid and the Robot as they all figured out how to solve the puzzle in front of them. Shuichi examined the individual pieces:

_ Maybe if you fit that piece there… And that one there… No… _

He was nudged aside as Rantaro stepped between the two. He quickly put the pieces in the correct place, and the fourth lightbulb lit up. Shuichi watched as the entire class praised the Class Representative for his quick thinking:

_ When did he get so good at these kinds of things? _

His thoughts were distracted by a loud beeping sound. They turned their attention to the locker as smoked pillowed out and a shaky silhouette stepped out:

“Oh my god…” Kaede whispered,

“Fucking hell…” Miu mouthed,

“Eh, he’s not that impressive,” Tenko scoffed,

Shuichi could feel the room getting more humid as he stared at the man that stepped out of the locker. He was bigger than expected, and he truly wondered how he fit in the locker considering that the man in front of them had bulging tan muscles. 

“Hey, thanks for getting me out there,” the man said, “My name is Brian.”

He flashed a pearly white smile before approaching the group of kids. Shuichi wasn’t sure whether he hated the fact that the guy’s jumper was slightly open revealing his toned chest or that he was eye level to it. 

“You guys should leave as soon as you can. It’s dangerous here, and my boss will be here any minu-”

“Brian, are those products ready to be shipped out?” 

A man in a dark blue suit walked in, and Shuichi immediately thought of the insurance ad he saw when he visited America, as he had the same perfectly neat brown hair, the flashing smile, and the overly enthusiastic aura. Shuichi noted that his name tag said: Bill.

“Uh… No, sir. We’re a bit understaffed, so we’re kind of behind…” Brian said hesitantly,

“Well, what happened to Brady and Ben?” Bill asked,

“Th-They blew up this morning, sir.” Brian responded,

“Oh shucks,” Bill said, the too perfectly white smile still plastered on his face, “But I see you’ve met the new group of testers for our new product! The Bomb Game! The new ‘lit’ game that will ‘snatch the wigs’ off of those darn kid’s heads! I learned that from my nieces!”

The entire class cringed quietly as they stood awkwardly behind Bill, who took the initiative to stand between the overbearing boss and the high schoolers. 

“Sir, I think there’s a mistake. These are kids. They can’t possibly be the testers for the new product.”

“And that’s exactly why we hired them!” he exclaimed happily, “A product designed for children, should be tested by children!” 

Tenko raised her hand, “Sir? I’m hearing the details of this game, and I already think it’s a terrible idea.”

The entire class nodded in agreement. The business man laughed:

“Oh nonsense! You haven’t even tried it yet! And don’t worry, you guys will be paid handsomely, with this,” He pulled a small brass key out of his pocket before returning it, “Now we’re going to decide who is going to be the Runners and the Fixers! In this game, there are going to be two Fixers and the rest will be Runners! And we’re going to decide-”

“Don’t. Don’t fucking pull it out.” Kaito whispered,

“With this.” Bill pulled out the terribly familiar deck of cards,

“God damn it.” 

“I’ll give you kids some time to decide, okay?” 

And so, Bill left the room, leaving everyone to discuss on who gets to be the unlucky soul to be voted in. 

“Hey guys~” Kokichi spoke out, “I may have a suggest-”

“No! Enough with your suggestions!” Kaito yelled, turning around to yell directly in the Supreme Leader’s face, “Last time, you had a suggestion, you almost had me killed! And I’m fucking sick of it!” 

Kokichi immediately broke into tears: “WAHHHH! KAITO IS BEING MEAN! I’M ONLY TRYING TO HELP THE GROUP! But, if you don’t like my suggestion, ” his tears were soon replaced by a mischievous grin, “Why don’t you come with one yourself, Space Brain?”

The Astronaut reeled back, not expecting to be challenged, “Fine! I suggest… That we should… Vote for… Anyone who hasn’t participated in a game!” Kokichi looked at him with a surprised expression, “What? Finally realizing that your ass is on the chopping block?”

The Supreme Leader started laughing uncontrollably: “No! I just realized how much of an idiot you are! Do you know what you just suggested? If we vote for anyone who hasn’t participated in a game, that means that both your girlfriend and your best friend can be voted in! How stupid are you?”

Kaito’s face paled, “W-Wait! I didn’t mean th-!”

“Well, you heard it from Kaito Momota everyone!” Kokichi exclaimed, “For this round, we all should vote for someone that hasn’t participated in a game yet! And that means: Kaede Akamatsu! Shuichi Saihara! Rantaro Amami! Kirumi Tojo! Ryoma Hoshi! Gonta Gokuhara! Miu Iruma! Myself! And the Space Brain’s precious girlfriend: Maki Harukawa are all on the chopping block!”

Shuichi could feel a shiver go down his spine at the sound of his name. 

_ This time… I could be the next one going up to be voted in… But I don’t know which of my friends I should betray! Who do I vote for? _

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> VOTE BELOW:
> 
> https://linkto.run/p/WCHY6B3B
> 
> Hopefully y'all enjoyed this latest chapter and I'm really excited to find out who you guys will vote for (because y'all are chaotic and make the story 100x more fun to write!)
> 
> I'd love to know what your guy's thoughts and feelings about this next chapter!


	16. Chapter 5.5: The Bomb Game

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This week has really been hectic for me, and it doesn't help that this is the most ambitious chapter out of the entire fic. Hopefully, it's not too hard to read.
> 
> Also, it was really interesting seeing this week's results! We actually got a tie for who to vote for, so that was interesting to write.
> 
> Have fun reading this chapter, because it is a shit show for everyone!

After Kaito’s ‘suggestion’, Shuichi found himself surrounded by several classmates,

“God, why did I say that? How could I be so stupid?” Kaito said as he buried his face in his hands,

“Kaito, we know you didn’t mean it,” Kaede comforted, “I’m sure you just said that impulsively.”

“Yeah, even if it was stupid of you to say, we know that you don’t mean to hurt any of us.” Ryoma said as he blew dust out from his candy cigarette.

“It doesn’t matter what he said,” Maki said, getting the attention from everyone in the group, “What matters now is how we’re going to vote. There’s 8 of us here, which means that we have the majority. If we all vote for Kokichi then it would drastically decrease our chances of being voted in.”

“So that’s it? We’re all just going to vote for Kokichi?” Rantaro said,

A silence ran through the group as everyone silently nodded. From there, the group dissolved, everyone going their own way once Kaede’s name was called over to the voting table. But Shuichi just stayed on the stack of boxes he was sitting on, aimlessly watching the class from his corner. 

He looked over to Kokichi who was tag-teaming with Miu in making Brian feel extremely uncomfortable. Shuichi wondered if the other boy knew what was in store for him, that his demise was settled in the consensus of his peers. 

_ How could he still be laughing? Doesn’t he know that his life is going to be in danger? Unless- _

“Shuichi Saihara, please report to the voting table.”

He was suddenly pulled from his thoughts, an unsettling feeling pooling in his gut, as he walked towards the voting table in the front of the room. He stared at the cards before him, looking at his classmate’s faces. He shut his eyes as he grabbed a card and handed it to the overly happy business man in front of him,

_ I’m so sorry, Kokichi… _

“Hey, son, you know you’re only supposed to turn in one?” the business man questioned, “You know what? I like that kind of enthusiasm. With that kind of attitude, you’ll make it far in life, kid.” 

Shuichi watched in horror as the man took the two cards in front of him. One of a happy blonde playing the piano and the other of a serious girl with red eyes. Shuichi could feel his breath catch in his throat as he turned away from the voting table,

_ Why? Why did that happen again? What is wrong with me? I-It’s like I can’t control my body! Like someone else is making this decision for me! _

His thoughts were once again interrupted by someone knocking into his shoulder,

“Don’t get too comfortable, Mr. Detective…”

He looked behind him to see the carefree smile on Kokichi’s face as he passed him to vote. Shuichi could feel his entire body shiver as he made his way back to his stack of boxes. It didn’t take long for Bill to call for everyone.

“Alright, can we gather around? It’s time to find out who will be a fixer? And who will be a runner?” Bill yelled, shuffling the cards in his hands. He stopped and picked a random card from the deck, “And the lucky duck who gets to be the fixer is…”

“The Ultimate Supreme Leader.”

Everything in the room became silent, even the whistles and the vents seemed to be muted, as everyone watched the blank expression from the boy.

“M-Me? I’m the one being voted in?” Kokichi stammered, clear panic written on his face as droplets of sweat started forming on his face,

“Yeah. How do you like that?” Kaito yelled, a triumphant grin on his face, “This entire time you’ve been killing people with your stupid suggestions, but now it’s your sorry ass going in the games.”

Shuichi couldn’t read the expression on the other boy’s face as his hair was covering his face. Was he regretting his mistakes? Was he crying? Shuichi looked closer and he could feel his stomach drop. Underneath that purple mess of hair, Kokichi was smiling.

“Hey, Mr. Bill~” he called, “Don’t we have one other person to vote in?”

“Thank you,” the adult said politely, “I was just about to get to that. The next Fixer will be,” He drew the next card, “The Ultimate Assassin.”

Everyone stared at the stony expression on her face. She didn’t even seem phased at the announcement at all. Just staring menacingly at the boy in front of her, a deadly aura coming off of her,

“Maki, I-” Kaito said, instinctively going to pull his girlfriend in a hug,

“I’m fine,” she said, slapping his hand away, “I wouldn’t have it any other way. If anyone’s going to kill that bastard, it’s going to be me.”

“Now, may the Fixers follow Brian into the machinery room? The rest can follow me.”

Shuichi watched as Maki and Kokichi followed Brian to a rusted door. Shuichi couldn’t understand why the other boy looked disappointed. Before he left, the smaller boy turned around and purple eyes soon met gold, Kokichi mouthed something before quickly turning back and disappearing into the room.

“Hey, dude, are you still coming?” 

“Yeah, sorry about that.”

As Shuichi followed the group, he pondered about Kokichi’s message.

_ ‘Be careful’. What did he mean by that? _

_ \--- _

The group of 3 travelled silently down the hallway. Maki wondered how much longer they were going to go. It seemed that the farther they went, the more humid and darker it was, and it only reminded her of the painful memories at the orphanage. She eyed behind her, watching the unbothered expression on Kokichi’s face.

_ He’s got to be up to something. _

“We’re here,” Maki could feel her heart start to thump harder in her chest as she stared at the rusty engravings of the word “Machinery Room”. Brian opened the door, letting the 3 of them inside of the room.

The first thing that she saw was the massive machine lying in the middle of the room. It looked a lot like the puzzle box they first solved, but blown up maybe 10 or 20 times bigger. She looked around the room, seeing the valves, pipes, levers, and buttons scattered among the walls and the large vat of oil in the corner of the room. The last thing that was of interest was the two large tvs that was the only source of light in the room. One had a brown maze on it while the other one was of a static screen. The words “Bomb TV” flickered at the bottom.

“Haha, well, this is dark and dreary!” the boy laughed beside her, “This looks like exactly the place where corpses are made!”

Maki glared at him. There was something about his nonchalant attitude that was getting on her nerves. Did he not care that his life is in danger right now? How could he laugh in a situation like this? She was about to yell at him, before something appeared on the TV.

“Oh, hey? That looks like Tenko!” Kokichi commented,

Maki looked at the screen where a little cartoon head of Tenko was travelling down the maze. 

_ She’s going pretty fast… _

Soon, Gonta’s head appeared where Tenko’s head first appeared, and just like her his head started speeding off as well. Maki and Kokichi watched as Kiibo, Kaede, and Kirumi’s head joined the screen as well.

“As you can see, your friends are finally entering the maze,” Brian spoke up, “And soon, they’ll be playing the Bomb Game.”

“Wait, I thought we were going to test out the new game.” Maki said, something starting to feel very wrong,

“No, you guys will only fix the Bomb Game machine. The Productions team thought it would be a good idea to fix the problems within the machine while test running the game itself. Your guy’s job is to work together to fix the machine while your friends are risking their lives playing this game.”

Maki looked at the man stunned, “Wait, does that mea-”

“It means that this isn’t a death round. We’re going to have to work together to save our classmates.” Kokichi said, a serious expression on his face,

Maki looked up to the screen to see Kaito’s cartoon image appearing on the screen.

_ No… _

She turned around, grabbing the Supreme Leader by the collar and lifting him up, “You knew about this? Didn’t you?”

A mocking grin formed on his face, “Yeah, maybe I did. Don’t you think there’s something super suspicious about the titles ‘Fixer’ and ‘Runner’? Why do you think I started a fight in the first place?”

“You intentionally picked a fight with Kaito to get yourself voted in knowing that he was going to ask people to help him! You knew that this wasn’t going to be a death round!”

“Too smart, too late,” Kokichi laughed, “I’ll be honest, I wanted to go into this round with Shuichi. I even got everyone else who wasn’t in your group to vote for him, so how the hell did you get here? Maybe your stupid boyfriend wanted you gone and voted you in.”

Maki retracted her fist, but before it could land on the smaller boy’s face, the overhead lights glowed red. Maki dropped Kokichi as she looked to the screen. Tenko and Kaito’s faces were red as the static screen showed a split screen of two different videos. 

On the left side, Gonta was running away from the camera while on the right Ryoma was running away. Maki froze when she heard the audio:

“Ryoma, come back!” Kaito yelled as the camera got closer and closer to Ryoma’s backside. Soon a large muscular hand reached out to touch his back causing him to fall on his knees. Soon, the camera’s perspective switched where it was now being taken on the ground, and Kaito’s guilty face was looking down, 

“I-I’m so sorry!” Kaito yelled before running away,

“Do you understand the circumstances now?” Kokichi snarled, “If you want to save your boyfriend, you’re going to have to work with your most hated enemy!”

\---

Shuichi leaned against the brown rusty wall, heaving for breath. In this moment, he kind of wished that he took PE more seriously. 

_ How the hell am I going to survive this? When most of my classmates are athletes?  _

He heard the screams of someone far away. He could at least rest for now knowing that one of the ‘Carrier’ was far away. He remembered before they were put in this hellish game:

“Who here has played ‘Tag’? Or Hot Potato?” Bill asked, everyone’s hand went up, “Well, this game is very much like a mix of the two games. In the Bomb Game, there are two ‘it’s or ‘bomb carriers’ and they will have to chase everyone else and tag them so that they transfer the bomb to that person. If a Bomb Carrier holds a bomb for too long then it will explode.” 

“A-And what will happen if it explodes?” Rantaro asks,

“Of course, that person will die! And a new Bomb Carrier will be chosen randomly!” Bill enthusiastically said,

“Wait a fucking minute,” Miu said, “I thought we weren’t going to test the game. That’s why we voted for two people so they could die instead of us.”

The man cocked his head to the side, a sickening grin on his face, “Did you not hear me, sweetie? The entire class is here to test out the game. We only voted to see who would be the Fixers and who would be the Runners.”

“And what are the Fixer’s jobs?” Kirumi asked,

“Their job is to fix the machine that runs the Bomb Game! In our previous trial run, we found a problem within the machine that actually keeps transferring the Bomb Carrier role to other players instead of just ending the game with 1 loser, so their job is to fix the machine.”

Miu thought for a moment, “So the game is never ending until they fix it?”

“Precisely.”

“No way am I going to participate! I don’t want to fucking die!” Miu yelled, speaking for everyone in the class,

“Unfortunately, you cannot back out of it,” the business man smiled, “From the moment, you wore that uniform, you already have a bomb on you. See the logo? That’s where the bomb is hidden. If you choose to leave this factory, we will have no choice but to set your bomb off. And don’t bother taking your uniforms off either. It will also detonate the moment you remove it.”

He walked over to a door, and swung it open, revealing the large maze beyond it.

“Anyways kids, have fun! And Bombs Away!”

Shuichi grimaced at the memory. He finally understood what Kokichi meant.

_ He knew this entire time. He probably got himself voted in on purpose too. _

He was brought out of his thoughts when he heard the sound of clanking metal approaching. Not too far away was Kiibo, Shuichi would’ve greeted him if not for the flashing half red bomb logo on the front of his uniform. The Detective immediately broke into a sprint with the Robot following him,

“Shuichi please!” Kiibo yelled, “I’ve had this bomb for too long! I promise I’ll take it back!”

But Shuichi continued to run, giving no minds to his pleas. Luckily for him, the Robot was pretty slow. Shuichi turned the corner,

“No no no no no. It’s a dead end.” 

He turned back before a hand rested on his shoulder. He turned around to see Kiibo’s horrified expression,

“I-I’m so sorry!” he said before running away.

Shuichi looked down at his uniform. The once black bomb logo was starting to form a red color. He knew that if the bomb became fully red then it would explode. He started running towards the direction he saw Kiibo. Maybe he could still catch up to him and tag him back. 

_ There he is.  _

Kiibo was a good few yards away from Shuichi, but the Detective was pretty sure that he could catch him. He chased him down the long hallway before turning right and making a sharp left turn. He looked out to the hallway, surprised to find no Robot,

_ Where did he go?  _ He leaned against the wall. His lungs burning in pain. He looked down at his uniform: half full. He staggered around, using the walls to guide him, desperately hoping that someone would come by.

“Hey, dude, are you okay?”

He looked up to find the familiar tuft of purple hair. Kaito was within arms reach looking down at him with a concerned expression. Since he was hunched over, the astronaut couldn’t see the logo on his uniform. Shuichi hesitantly reached out his hand,

_ “I’m sure that you can make it up to him down the line.” _

He pulled his hand back, 

“No.”

With the few energy he had, he turned on his heel and ran away as fast as he can leaving a very confused astronaut in his dust.

\---

“Turn the A valve 90 degrees, connect the 174 pipe to the 8008 pipe, and then pull the blue lever down!” Maki yelled as she swam in the tub of oil,

“Yeah I know!” Kokichi yelled back, 

“Then why aren’t you doing it?” 

“I can’t see anything! It’s too dark in here and all of the writing is rusty!” Kokichi groaned in frustration, “Have you found that last key?”

“No, bu-”

“Then don’t talk shit!” 

Maki rolled her eyes before reaching around the thick oil. According to Brian, the only way to fix the machine was to find the 3 keys that were hidden in the oil. Once a key was found and inserted in the machine, a message would pop up and give instructions on what to do. So far, they had already found two keys and solved one set of instructions, but the pressure of saving their friends was finally starting to get to them.

Maki felt something small in the oil. She grabbed at it, finding a small silver key,

“I have it!” She started making her way out of the tub before the room started shaking and she fell back into the tub, losing the key, “What was that?”

They both looked to the screen. The left screen showed Kaito backing away in horror as blood splattered on his pants. 

“Kirumi!’ Kokichi yelled, “She’s gone! She’s not on the map anymore!” 

“We-We got to work faster!” 

\---

Shuichi stumbled when the explosion went off. It came from the place where he ran away from Kaito. He looked down at his uniform: a quarter away from being full

_ I need to find someone before that happens to me. _

It didn’t take too long before something golden crashed in front of him. 

“Kaede! Are you okay?”

“Yeah, but Tenko is coming! She’s one of the Carriers!” 

He looked down at his friend, unsure of what to do, before remembering his logo.

_ Sorry Kaede… _

He pulled her up before running in the same direction as her. 

“There you are!” Tenko yelled,

He looked behind him only to find Tenko catching up quickly.

“Kaede, I think we’re going to have to split up! See you soon?”

He looked at her with the most comforting smile he could muster before she nodded in response. They quickly split up with Kaede taking the left and Shuichi taking the right path. When he continued to hear the sounds of footsteps approaching, he turned around to find Tenko barrelling towards him. He forced himself to keep running,

_ Please let this game end! _

\---

“What does the last one say?” Kokichi said,

“Pull the Green and Pink lever down at the same time, turn the P valve 180 degrees, and then flip up the I-89 switch.” Maki said, reading the last message on the machine.

“Got it. The levers should be by the TVs.” 

They ran over to the levers with Kokichi taking the green one and Maki taking the pink one, 

“1… 2… 3!” Maki yelled as the two pulled down on the lever.

“Okay, next we got to find the P valve,” Kokichi stated, “I think I know where it might be, while I do that, go ahead and find the button.”

Maki nodded, running towards the nearest wall, and searching for the purple button in the masses of scattered machinery. 

_ Where is it? Why can’t I find it! Wait, there it is! _

Hidden between two large pipes was a tiny purple button about the size of the pad of her finger. Maki scowled knowing that was a dirty move by the creators of this room. The only problem she could see was that it was too far above her reach, she couldn’t even touch it if she jumped. Kokichi ran beside her,

“Why the hell are you being so slow?” he whined, “Are you really that stupid that you can’t find a single button?” 

“I found it. I just can’t reach it,” Maki scowled, “Just get on my shoulders. I don’t trust you to carry me up.”

“Geez, you don’t have to be so mean about it…” he pouted,

Maki kneeled down in front of the Supreme Leader as he stepped on her shoulder. He wobbled a bit before holding a nearby beam for support before stepping onto her other shoulder,

“How you liking the view down there?” he grinned,

“Just shut up and press the button.” Maki responded, grabbing onto the boy’s ankles as she balanced him,

“Move to the right. More. More. Mor-!”

A deep rumbling shook the room causing Kokichi to lose his balance. He landed on the ground with a sickening thud. After the rumbling stopped, she got back up on her feet, running over to the boy.

“Kokichi. Kokichi! Wake up!” she said, prodding him awake. He only groaned in pain before passing out again, “Fuck, he hit his head…”

She dragged the unconscious boy over to the wall, making sure he was sitting in an upright position.

_ I can’t deal with him right now. I need to finish this game now! _

She looked up at the wall, studying the levers, beams, and switches littering the walls.

_ Maybe if I treat it like rock climbing maybe I’ll reach it… _

She stepped a few paces backwards before racing forwards to grab at a beam. She placed her foot on a nearby lever before pulling herself up. She continued to climb the machinery walls, hoping that none would break under her feet. She soon stopped, finding herself half an arms length below the button, and dangling by one arm on a pipe.

_ I need to be super careful about this, or else I’ll end up just like him. _

She slowly pulled herself up with her single arm, focusing on keeping her grip on the circular pipe. She found herself shaking as she drew closer to the button, pressing the button with a weak tap. She looked down at the machine to find the 3rd light still turned off. She pressed it harder again to only discover that nothing had changed. 

She scaled down the wall, finding something new on the Bomb TV screen. She looked in horror at the headlines:

“To end the game, choose to detonate one of the Bomb Carriers”

She looked over to the unconscious boy, and for the first time she actually felt sorry for him

_ He’s going to hate me even more after this. No matter who I choose… _

On the screen were the only two people in the class who were unbothered by his bullshit. Maki stared guiltily at the screen at the desperate faces of Gonta and Miu, unsure of her decision.

[Having to end the deadly Bomb Game, Maki has to make a tough decision over whose life to take to save everyone else. Whose bomb should be detonated?]

> Gonta. Kokichi’s most loyal friend.

> Miu. Kokichi’s fellow partner in crime.

**Vote below! And beware! Your decision affects their fate!**

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> VOTE BELOW:
> 
> https://linkto.run/p/B4WKFR2Y
> 
> Once again, I used a complicated version of the dice method to decide their fate. Just thought it would be interesting to show y'all their speed stats and how many times they had an encounter with a Bomb Carrier.
> 
> Kaede: +0 // Encounters: 3  
> Shuichi: +0 // Encounters: 1  
> Rantaro: +1 // Encounters: 3  
> Kaito: +1 // Encounters: 5  
> Kirumi: +2 // Encounters: 1  
> Ryoma: +3 // Encounters: 7 (he only survived because he's so fucking fast)  
> Gonta: +1 // Encounters: 4  
> Tenko: +2 // Encounters: 3  
> Kiibo: -2 // Encounters: 3  
> Miu: -1 // Encounters: 2


	17. Chapter 6.0: The Kraken

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> TL;DR: Shuichi fucking sucks at math

“Miu! S-Stay away!” Shuichi's voice cracked as he backed into the wall of the dead end. 

“Oh, Pooichi,” the Inventor cooed as she inched closer, “I’ll be very gentle. I promise.”

Shuichi could feel his heart beat harder in his chest as a well manicured finger hovered closer to his chest. He sank down to the ground, pressing himself closer to the wall, trying to melt in it as he covered his face. He shut his eyes and held his breath expecting a sharp jab coming.

**BOOM!**

Shuichi felt something wet hit his face and something crumple near his feet. He slowly opened his eyes,

“M-Miu?”

It wasn’t Shuichi’s first time seeing a decapitated body, but this one shook him to his core. A classmate, who was alive just moments ago, now laid before him in a mutilated mess. 

He soon found himself retching in the corner.

_ Why? Why did she die? Her bomb wasn’t even close to full!  _

He wiped the corner of his mouth with his sleeve, grimacing at the streaks of blood that came along with it, before a loud siren rang through the building.

**GAME OVER! The walls will now be lowering! GAME OVER! The walls will now be lowering!**

Shuichi stumbled as the ground shook, watching as the metal rusty walls slowly disappear into the ground. When the walls finally disappeared, he found himself and the rest of the class scattered in an empty warehouse. He was surprised to be only a few yards away from Kaito,

“Shuichi!” the Astronaut yelled, running to the boy before smothering the other in a smothering embrace, “Haha! I’m so glad to see that you’re alive! I was so scared that that explosion was you when I heard your voice!”

“Haha, yeah…” Shuichi smiled, he looked behind Kaito’s shoulder, seeing the rest of their class having similar reunions with one another as they raced to hold their friends in their arms. Shuichi’s smile dropped when he saw Hoshi holding the gloved hand of a dead body as Gonta rubbed his backside.

“May the remaining testers please gather at the entrance.” a female voice rang through the intercom.

The two boys broke their embrace before walking to the door that they first came from. As they got closer, they were greeted by the familiar smiling face of a certain businessman,

“Thank you all for cooperating with Bomb Co.” Bill laughed as he met death stares from the kids “We would appreciate it if you would fill out a survey before you leave about the product. You kids can do it while you enjoy some of the snacks and drinks we provided for you.” 

Shuichi stared at the pathetic table of refreshments as it only had a few bottles of water and a bowl of fruits for all of them to share. He grabbed at a bottle of water and a banana before making his way over to the seating area.

On top of every metal chair was a clipboard, he picked it up before plopping himself down, finally giving his feet the rest they deserved. He looked at the first question as he chugged down his water:

_ How fun was Bomb Tag on a scale of 1-10? (1 being boring, and 10 being extremely fun, I could die!) _

He ripped the survey before throwing the clipboard below his chair.

_ Fun, my ass. _

Grumbling, he ripped open his banana and was reminded of a certain perverted girl before scarfing it down. He was pretty sure that’s what she would have wanted. 

The entire class ate in silence before a door slammed against the wall. Maki stepped out of the dark hallway, frustrated and covered in a thick black fluid, and carrying something behind her back. It wasn’t until she got closer that Shuichi realized that she was carrying an unconscious Kokichi on her back. 

“Oh my god, what happened?” Kaede asked as Maki threw down the Supreme Leader onto a chair. Kokichi groaned as he landed hard on the chair, rubbing the back of his neck as he glared angrily at the Assassin.

“He fell on his head. I was holding him up when an explosion happened and he fell.” Maki stated, “But that doesn’t matter, because he set us all up!”

“What are you talking about?” Rantaro said,

“He set us all up! He knew that this game wasn’t going to be a death round! He deliberately had us vote for him, so he could be safe while the rest of you would have to fight to live!” Maki yelled, pointing angrily at the boy,

“Are you really accusing me, Makiroll?” Kokichi groaned, “I just fell on my head. How could you do that to an injured person?”

“Because you lied to everyone about what was going to happen,” she glared at him angrily as he met her with a tired expression.

“I didn’t lie… I was just… Withholding information…” he said, waving his hands around,

“If you had told us of what was going to happen, we all could’ve been prepared of what was to come!”

“Why should I? Someone was going to die anyways!” Kokichi yelled angrily, “That’s what this game is all about: making sacrifices. That’s what all of you guys did when you willingly voted me in.” 

The entire class fell silent.

“You guys say that it’s not nice to turn on our friends and vote for them, but when it’s me it’s suddenly okay?”

“That’s not the point...” Maki spat softly,

“Then what is the point, Maki? Because I’m sure that if any one of you guys knew what I knew, you would’ve done the same. Get it through your thick skulls, but these games demand sacrifices, and Kirumi was unfortunate enough to be one.” 

“Kirumi wasn’t the only one,” Everyone turned around to see Hoshi, glaring angrily at the Supreme Leader, “Kirumi wasn’t the only one that died.”

“Kiibo… And Miu died too,” Gonta said, tears filling up his eyes, “G-Gonta voted for Shuichi like you told him to… And so did Kiibo and Miu… Wh-Why didn’t you warn your friends of what was going to happen?”

Kokichi sat there speechless for the first time, “I-I… How…”

“Kiibo’s explosion was the cause of your fall,” Maki spoke up, “And to end the game I needed to choose between Gonta or Miu to kill. Kokichi, by withholding information, you killed your friends.”

Slow clapping was heard behind them as the entire class turned around to find Bill and Brian.

“I’m sorry to interrupt your little pow-wow, kids,” Bill said, pulling out a small brass key from his pocket, “But I believe I have your payments for testing our new product. After everyone signs this document, you all can be free to go.”

The entire class grumbled as they left to sign the paper at the front of the room. Shuichi was the only one left with Kokichi. Thoughts were clouding his head,

_ What he did was unforgivable, but… He wanted to save me. Why? _

Shuichi couldn’t read the expression on the boy’s face, but he offered a hand out to him.

“Can you stand?”

His question was only met with silence, but he took his hand and tried to stand up, failing only to fall back onto the chair. Shuichi turned around, offering him to ride on his back. Shuichi stumbled a bit as Kokichi climbed onto his back. He was quite surprised at how light the boy was. As he walked over to the document, he felt Kokichi’s chin rest near his ear,

“Y-You know, despite what happened, I was pretty happy when I found out that Miu and Kiibo died. That pig bitch was always drooling over some metal dick. I-I’m just glad that they went out together…” Shuichi felt something wet hit his shoulder. He was going to say something before Kokichi sniffled and wiped his nose on his sleeve, “Nevermind, forget you heard anything. It was all just… A lie.”

When they got to the table, the two signed the paper without saying a word, but Shuichi could feel that the silence had a lot to say as they left the room. 

\---

“Monokuma? Monokuma!” Rantaro yelled as they entered the ruin.

In the middle of the ruin was a shower stall, the entire class can hear a happy little tune being hummed as a bear silhouette scrubbed behind the steamy glass door. Shuichi recognized the tunes as Sayaka Maizono’s song:  _ Peach ♡ Kisses _

“Oh for pete’s sake,” Kaito grumbled as he marched ahead. He flung open the shower door as Monokuma screamed, covering his nonexistent breasts, and drenched in pink water. The bear held his heart as if struck before collapsing against the shower wall.

“Y-You got me… I have to write my dying message, so everyone knows who killed me…” the bear shakily wrote out a few numbers behind his back in pink, “And I am… No more…”

The bear relaxed his entire body, his tongue lolling out his mouth. The entire class stared in confusion at the scene. Were they supposed to clap?

“We have another key. We don’t have time to deal with your stupid crap.” Kaito said, dragging the bear out of the stall.

“Sheesh, you kids are rude,” Monokuma grumbled as he swiped the key from Rantaro’s hand, “Monokuma, do this. Monokuma, do that. Don’t even stay for the rumbling description and my ranting if you’re in that much of a hurry.”

“Uh… Okay.” Kaito said, turning away to join the rest of the class who was already approaching the next door.

As they stepped through, they could all hear the bear screaming: “I WAS KIDDING!” 

\---

Shuichi almost slipped as he stepped into the next room. He steadied himself as he felt a fist lightly hit his back,

“Hey, Shuichi. A little more careful? You got someone really important on your back,” Kokichi complained tiredly.

“Uh… Sorry,” he muttered, turning around to see Kokichi’s face. He noticed the bright yellow rain hat on his head and the angry clouds behind him.

“Maybe if you got off his back, he’d have an easier time walking,” Kaito grumbled,

“You’re so mean, Kaito,” Kokichi pouted as he slipped off the Detective’s back, “Making an injured person walk. How terrible.” 

Shuichi stared at Kokichi realizing that the dirty jumpsuits from the factory was replaced with a bright yellow rain hat and a matching raincoat and boots. He had to push the thought out of his head that the entire class looked like overgrown preschoolers. 

Shuichi fell to the ground as the ground rocked sideways. This time they were on a boat in what looked to be in the middle of the storm. He could feel himself tensing up. He was a little afraid of the ocean.

“Glad to see that my lazy crew is finally up!” 

An old man walked out of the door they came from, wearing the same outfit that the rest of the class was wearing, except the overgrown grey beard and the gnarly teeth made him look threatening. 

“What are you doing?” he snarled, “Get your asses moving! I’m not paying you to stand around!” 

“W-What are we supposed to do?” Tenko asked,

“What are you? Stupid?” the old man grumbled, “We’re on a fishing boat, so I paid you to fish! Now go! Before I get angry!” 

He batted the class away as they all moved to the front of the boat. Shuichi noted the jacuzzi-sized tank embedded in the ground and the 9 fishing poles around the deck. He took an available pole right next to Kokichi and Kaito. He grimaced as he stared at the pole, he lived in a city his entire life, he’s never been fishing before. 

“Hey, what’s the big idea?”

Shuichi turned to his side to find Kaito grasping at his pole, unable to take it out of the stand. He turned to his left to find Kokichi struggling with the same issue. He examined the pole closely, noticing the small screen attached to the handle. It read: “2 + 4 =” and a small keypad underneath. He cautiously pressed the number 6 before a green check mark appeared on the screen, and a +1 appeared in the top right corner.

Shuichi stepped back in surprise when the fishing pole reeled back before releasing a line into the ocean. He looked at Kaito who was staring at him in sheer awe. It didn’t take long for the pole to move vigorously again, a small fish jumped out of the water and flew overhead before landing in the tank behind them.

“Woah… That is seriously cool.” Kaito whispered before excitedly typing in a number in his keypad. The same thing happened to his pole and soon a bigger fish came popping out of the water. Shuichi eyed Kaito’s score: +2.

_ Maybe the size of the fish correlates to how many points you get. But why do we get points? _

He looked at his next problem: “2 x 3 + 4 - 2 =”. He looked to the top of the question realizing that there was a green fish icon.

_ Difficulty level? White fish are 1 point while green fish are 2 points. _

“Uh… Shuichi? Did your problem get harder?” Kaito asked,

“Yeah, but it’s not that bad… Why what does yours look like?”

Shuichi looked at his screen: “5x+2x-3”. 

_ Blue fish icon. 3 points? _

“Hey guys,” Kokichi said, “Do you have a word problem too?” 

Shuichi leaned over to see Kokichi’s screen: “You would like to re carpet your entire living room, which is 345 inches square. If one foot of carpet costs $8.99, how much would you have to pay to cover your living room?”

He looked at the icon: gold. Sounds of splashing and heavy footsteps came behind them before the ghastly old captain came running to them.

“Reel her up! Reel her up now, boy!” 

“I can’t do math that quick-!”

“Did you hear me?!” The captain yelled even louder,

Kokichi grumbled as he thought about the question. The old man stood behind him with a crazy look in his eye, muttering excitedly to himself, “Once we get them, we can finally reel in the big one...”

“What makes this fish so special?” Kokichi asked, punching in a few numbers,

The old man stared out at the sea, “It doesn’t matter to you, but whoever catches one of these gold fishes will get a nice reward from me. We just need one. Just one.”

All of them watched as Kokichi’s pole threw a line into the ocean. The old man licked his lips, watching the bobber disappear into the sea, before finally coming back up with nothing attached.

“God damn it, boy! You let her get away!” he yelled, almost smacking the Supreme Leader upside the head,

He soon walked away, grumbling loudly, before yelling at Kaede and Tenko for talking to each other. 

“Sheesh, what a sour old man.” Kokichi said aloud, but Shuichi wasn’t listening. 

_ Points? A reward for those who catch 3 gold fish?  _

“Guys,” he spoke up, the other two purple haired boys turned to look at him, “I think we should try to catch as many fish as possible. I think that if one of us racks up the most amount of points or catches a gold fish, we can get excluded from the next round.” 

Kaito pounded his fists together, “Hell yeah, man! This is going to be a piece of cake!”

_ Says you…  _

Shuichi never wanted to admit it, but he was terrible at math, embarrassing even. While Kaito could figure out a rocket propulsion in his sleep, the Detective could barely even do a simple equation. He looked once again at his screen: “2 x 3 + 4 - 2 =”

_ It doesn’t matter where I start right? 3+4 is 7… Times 2 is 14, and subtract by 2 should be 12! _

He typed the number in the keypad only to find the fishing pole reel up nothing. He watched both Kokichi and Kaito send fish flying through the air and into the tank. He bit the inside of his cheek,

_ Oh dear God, help me.  _

\---

Shuichi sighed loudly as his pole reeled in his 4th straight empty line. Kokichi giggled in the background mockingly,

“What? World class detective can’t even do simple PEMDAS?”

“I don’t even know what that is…” Shuichi sobbed,

He looked at the other’s screen. While he had a measly 1 point, Kaito was leading with 6 points while Kokichi had 3. Shuichi bitterly hated that he chose to sit near a math genius and someone who was more than okay to shove in his face his mistakes. 

“Maybe when I go on my next heist I should throw in a parabola!” Kokichi laughed as he reeled in 2 point fish.

“Leave him alone,” Kaito said, watching his line bring back a 3 point fish, “He’s trying his best. When we get back, we can always give him some one-on-one tutoring.”

Shuichi grumbled as he muted the other two boys' laughter. He looked at his screen, his eyes going wide, gold fish: “Jamie has 50 marbles in a bag. If 20% are blue, how many marbles are blue?”

He bit down on his lower lip. He looked at the problem cluelessly, his mind drawing a blank.

_ You know what? I don’t care. I’m putting 10. _

He punched in the number and watched the fishing pole throw a line out. He rolled his eyes, waiting for his 5th empty line, but he didn’t expect to see the bobber sink. Large ripples of water started thrashing around it as Shuichi watched the water in awe. 

“Holy fuck! Shuichi, you got the gold fish!” Kaito yelled, reaching out to slam a congratulatory hand to the back. Water poured down on the three teens as the fishing pole flung the gold fish out of the water. They watched in amazement as it landed in the tank.

“YES! YES!” the old man sang, “WE GOT HER! WE GOT HER!” 

The entire class ran to the tank, wanting to see what the prized catch looked like. Shuichi pushed his way to the front, needing to see his proudest achievement. Inside of the tank, something golden resonated with the multitudes of fish swimming around. He peered closer,

_ Is that… A baby? _

Curled up in a fetal position was a baby, but instead of the cute squishy head of a baby, it was a slimy octopus waving its golden tentacles around.

“Oh, that’s gross.” Tenko said, backing away from the tank.

“Move. MOVE!” he pushed the teens aside, reaching inside the tank to grab the sleeping octo-baby, “I can’t believe it. I finally found her. I DID IT!!!!!”

The class watched as the Captain ran to the front of the boat, holding the baby above his head, “DO YOU HEAR ME? I HAVE HER! SHOW YOURSELF, MOTHER OF THE OCEAN! SHOW YOURSELF!” 

Shuichi collapsed onto Maki as the boat rocked furiously. Spots surrounded his vision when he was thrown against a pole. Shuichi looked around to find the rest of his class scattered on the floor in a similar case, all looking forward in horror. 

Long black tentacles twisted over the dock, holding the crumbling boat in place, as green glowing eyes loomed from above the clouds. They couldn’t even see it among the fog, but they hoped that they didn’t have to.

The old man stepped back, regret starting to take form on his face as he clutched the baby in his arms. Why did he do this in the first place? To prove to everyone that he wasn’t crazy? He had his proof now, but he wasn’t sure if he could tell the tale with anyone. A black tendril wrapped around his ankle as he was pulled off the deck. The baby gurgled softly as she landed safely in a curled tentacle. 

“PLEASE! FORGIVE ME! PLEASE! NO!” he screamed, flailing his arms wildly in the air, as he was brought closer and closer to the fog and the glowing green eyes. He disappeared into the fog before the loud sound of snapping bones and a drop in the water resounded from within. 

Shuichi looked out to the fog. Was he going to be next? He felt frozen, unable to tear his gaze away from where the old sea captain used to stand. He soon felt someone tug on his sleeve. He turned around to face Kaede who pulled a finger up to her mouth before pointing to the door where they came from where several of his classmates were already started to inch towards.

He nodded silently before slowly crawling his way to the sea cabin. As Rantaro slowly turned the doorknob, a black tendril slammed into the building, demolishing it completely while barely missing Rantaro’s head. 

“Children,” a gentle woman’s voice resounded from the fog, “Come forth.” 

The class slowly walked to the front of the deck with their breath caught in their throats.

“The sea is still not satisfied, and demands another sacrifice. You all will have to vote for 2 people within your group to decide will be that sacrifice who will dive in the the depths of the ocean.” 

“Who was the one that stole the Princess of the Sea?” the monster asked gently,

Shuichi could feel his heart drop in his chest.

_ I’m going to die. I’m going to die because I stole a golden fish because I solved a stupid math problem.  _

“It was me.”

Shuichi watched as Kaito stepped forwards with his hand held above his head. 

_ No. Why are you doing this? _

“Very well then,” the tentacle monster responded, “Then your name will go in the voting pile. I hope you all make a decision soon.”

Kaito breathed out a sigh of relief before turning back to the class with a tired smile, “Guess I got off easy, huh?”

Shuichi approached him, “Why? Why did you take the blame?’

“I don’t know. I just felt like it.” Kaito said nonchalantly, “Plus I know you totally bullshitted that question, so technically you didn’t really catch it.”

“But. you’re being voted in!” Shuichi yelled, “How can you be so calm?”

“I survived two death games. I can survive another. Just because I have my name in the pile, doesn’t mean that I’ll be voted in for sure.” 

Shuichi’s head swirled. He needed to sit down. 

_ Kaito’s name is in the voting pile because of me… I don’t understand why he does this! But no one deserves to be voted in and killed like that old guy! Who should I vote for? _

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> VOTE BELOW:
> 
> https://linkto.run/p/A1VO2RAJ
> 
> Once again, here are their Math stats and how many they got right: 
> 
> Shuichi:+0 1/5 right  
> Kaede: +0 3/5 right  
> Rantaro: +1 3/5 right  
> Maki: -1 4/5 right  
> Kaito: +2 4/5 right  
> Kokichi: +1 3/5 right  
> Gonta: -2 2/5 right (my boy keeps surprising me)  
> Hoshi: +0 5/5 right  
> Tenko: -1 4/5 right
> 
> We're finally halfway through the story! And we're down to 9 students left! Your comments have been a great motivator for me, and I honestly love reading them!


	18. Chapter 6.5: Beneath the Murky Depths

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Summer is unfortunately ending, and I am sad :(
> 
> Posting may start to get irregular, but I am planning to write on time as much as I can. Start expecting updates on Mondays!

Shuichi stares blankly at the rows of cards

_ Nine… I can’t believe we’ve lost so many of us already… After this, half of us will be gone… I’m just so tired.  _

WIthout him even realizing, his hand was already gravitating near Maki’s card.

_ No! _

He pulled his hand back, instead grabbing it his own and giving it to the tentacle manning the table. He felt his stomach turn,

_ At least with this, I won’t have to hurt anybody. _

He walked away from the table and rejoined with the group at the front of the deck. He watched everyone’s solemn face as they stared out at the foggy sea. He sat down next to Kaede,

“Hi, haven’t spoken to you in a while.” he said nervously,

“Yeah, last time I talked to you was when I helped you in the bomb maze and you made me the Bomb Carrier.” she said, examining a grimy crack in the wood panels,

“I didn-”

“I know,” Kaede said. She looked up at him and gave a small sad smile, “But that’s all in the past. What matters now is that we work together to get past all these trials!” 

Shuichi smiled at the Pianist. After all that happened, it was nice to talk to the girl. Even in the most despairing of times, she still was a force of kindness and empathy. He sighed, letting go of all the tension in his shoulders. He didn’t know what to do if he lost her respect.

“I gotta go now,” she said, standing up when she heard her name being called “I’ll see you later, okay?” 

He nodded silently as he watched her leave. He watched everyone else as she disappeared from sight. Maki was talking with Tenko as Kaito was in a large group with Gonta, Hoshi, and Rantaro. The only one who wasn’t in a group was himself and Kokichi who was staring at the group of boys with disinterest.

_ I wonder if he feels lonely… Gonta hasn’t spoken to him at all since their confrontation. _

He continued to examine the small group until the ground started rumbling beneath them. They all braced themselves as the monster from before rose slowly from the sea.

“It is time,” The sea monster spoke in it’s dismembered voice, “The cards have been cast and it is time to see who will be sacrificed to the sea.” 

Shuichi found himself holding his breath. For all he knew, this could finally be his time.

“Ryoma Hoshi, Rantaro Amami, you two will be the sacrifices for today. Go to the back of the boat and wait.” 

He shakily exhaled his breath as the monster disappeared from the fog. A part of him felt bad for the two boys who stared out at the sea in shock, but another part of him was relieved. It was terrible for him to admit, but he was relieved that it wasn’t him or a close friend having to dive into the depths of the sea.

“I guess it’s us two.” Hoshi sighed heavily, pulling another candy cigarette out of his pocket,

“I guess so.” Rantaro replied as they started making their way to the back of the boat.

As the entire class made their way to the back, they were all shocked to see how massive the back was compared to the front.

Following the two rusty stairwells were two large cranes attached to the boat. As they got closer, Shuichi could see that attached to the cranes were metal cages. He recognized them as shark diving cages, or a more dilapidated version of the nice and safe ones that you would find at an island tour. He shuddered as he saw the open metal bar door. He was now very glad that he wasn’t chosen. 

Rantaro led the entire class up the steps as he came across a table that had two diving suits, two oxygen tanks, two diving masks, two underwater flashlights, and a letter. He picked it up and read it to the class,

“For the ones who were chosen, you must find 3 pearls in these dark waters. You may use your flashlight to see, but beware, because the creatures of the sea are lurking in the same waters and are attracted to light. If they see you, they will not hesitate to kill you. Once you have retrieved the 3 pearls, return to the cage and pull the cord to be brought up. The one left behind will be torn to shreds.”

The entire class remained silent, all of them imagining the monsters below the waters. Hoshi blew a plume of candy smoke as he walked over to the table, grabbing one of the diving suits. A perfect fit.

“I guess that means that we have to change into these.” he grimaced, grabbing one of the diving masks and flashlight.

“I guess so,” Rantaro replied again, dropping the bright yellow hat and raincoat. He soon pulled off his shirt, revealing the very taunt 6 pack underneath.

Shuichi reverted his eyes to the ground, cursing God for making the Ultimate Adventurer too fucking perfect. 

“What? Are you guys really going to stand here and watch us get naked?” Hoshi said, holding his discarded shirt in his hand,

Shuichi almost choked seeing Hoshi’s muscular body. He didn’t even know the little guy was packing.

“I-It’s not our fault that you guys decided to strip all of a sudden!” Tenko yelled, shoving her arms in front of her face,

The rest of the class turned around in embarrassment. Shuichi could feel his ears burn up as he heard the rummaging behind him,

_ Why is everyone in our class so damn athletic? And they can all do math… It’s unfair… _

“You can turn around now.” Rantaro’s voice called out,

They all turned around to find the two teens in black and blue diving suits, and wearing the oxygen tanks on their backs. 

“This is it,” Rantaro said, turning towards Hoshi, “After we get into those cages, we can no longer be friends anymore.” 

“Heh, I guess you’re right,” Hoshi smirked as he flicked away his cigarette and turned towards his cage, “But good luck to you anyways.”

“Yeah…” Rantaro said softly before putting on his mask and stepping into the cage,

Gonta stayed by the control panel where a large red button laid as everyone cheered the two good luck. As the two closed the doors to the shark diving cages, Gonta took a deep breathe:

“On the count of 3, Gonta will press the button. 1… 2… 3!”

The cages dropped into the water leaving the remaining students alone on the ship, wondering which of the two students will come out of the sea.

\---

Hoshi shut his eyes as he was plunged underwater. When he opened them, he was greeted by the endless darkness of the ocean. 

_ Holy shit. It really is dark in here. I can barely see beyond my hand. _

He edged towards the exit of the cage, relaxing when he saw gray sand swirling below his feet. A beam of light caught his eyes as he saw the blurry figure of Rantaro swimming boldly into the bleak depths.

He took a slow deep breath before pushing off from the bars. He was pretty glad that his coach insisted that he swam in the pool every morning. He honestly doubted that pretty boy would have much experience. 

_ Or maybe he would. He’s travelled the world before,  _ he thought to himself  _ Fuck, I really need to turn the light on. _

He flicked on the switch on his flashlight, thankful to finally see something other than black. He found himself in a clearing surrounded by rocks and kelp, but somehow he didn’t feel like he was alone. 

_ Stop that! You’re just imagining things! _

He swam on, swinging the light to the left and right, hoping to find something. Something shiny finally reflected off the light,

_ Is that… A treasure chest? _

He started to swim towards it before hearing a ear shattering shriek coming from his right. He turned his light towards it to find a monster barreling towards him. Just like the baby they caught earlier, it had a large octopus head on a human body, but instead of the golden color it was a dull silver with red eyes. 

He flicked off the flashlight before swimming forward. He heard something large slam behind him, and then swim off. His heartbeat was ringing through his ears as he hovered his finger over the “On” button:

_ If I turn on the light, I’ll get chased by those monsters! But if I don’t, I can’t find the pearls!  _

He hesitantly pressed the On button, finding the treasure box just in reach. He opened it, revealing the small pearl lying on a velvet pillow. He picked it up before putting it in the pocket of his diving suit. A large beam of light shot out from the treasure box and the sounds of shrieking were heard soon after.

Hoshi flicked off his light before swimming his way back, choosing to hide amongst the rocks. He heard something swim by him as he peered out from his rock. 5 ghastly tentacle faces appeared from the box’s light before they darted back out into the darkness when another beam of light appeared.

_ Shit! Rantaro’s got one too! But they should all be over there, so I think I can use my flashlight now. _

He flicked it on before swimming towards the opposite direction. He hated how cold and silent the water was. He remembered the photos he received of his father and mother floating face first in the bloody water as their arms were tied behind their backs, and he wondered if this is what they felt too.

As he swam, he couldn’t help thinking about his past. The underground tennis match. His parents. His cat. His girlfriend. His classmates. 

_ Kirumi… _

Everything in his life that he cared about was gone, and the moment that he thought that he could get it back, when he finally found a good friend who didn’t care about his history, they all disappeared with a bang. He felt something sink in his stomach as his flashlight hit another shiny surface.

He flicked off his light, just in case, before aimlessly swimming towards the treasure box. He soon found himself feeling the metal edges before a violent swishing was heard above him. He ducked behind the box, seeing the faint figure of one of the monsters swimming above him. 

_ It’s so close… I can’t even open the box or the light inside is going to catch it’s attention. _

He slowed down his breath, hoping that the monster wouldn’t hear him. 

_ He pressed himself towards the mahogany walls. The only light coming in was from the small slit in the wardrobe doors. _

_ He knew that she was trembling under the bed. _

_ Footsteps entered the room. Slow. Steady. Cautious. _

_ Something was knocked over. _

_ “No! Please! Let go of me! Let go of me! Please...” _

_ Bang! _

_ A sigh was heard. _

_ “We found the girl. Ryoma Hoshi is nowhere to be seen. Leave the body? Okay. Got it, boss. We’re coming back.” _

He opened his eyes as he heard it swim away, but the tension still remained taut in his shoulders. He shakily opened the box before grabbing the pearl and swimming away as fast as he could. He wondered if he would die if he vomited in his mask.

_ Stop it. Stop thinking. Stop remembering!  _

He stared out at the distance: 4 beams of light shined bright in the black depths. 

_ Shit! I need to find the last one before he does! _

He felt his arms go sore as he swam farther and farther. Images of dead bodies kept popping up in his head. 

_ 2 in the water. _

_ 1 on the bedroom floor _

_ 10 in an alleyway. _

_ 1 without her head. _

He saw something glitter farther ahead, and another beam of light approaching it. Soon enough, he saw Rantaro’s figure steadily swimming towards the last treasure box.

_ No! I won’t let you! _

He swam faster. He could feel his arms scream at him, but he’s felt worse muscle tears in the past. He collided into the Adventurer’s torso before turning around and darting towards the box. He was almost within fingers grasp before something wrapped around his ankle and pulled him back.

He turned around to face Rantaro’s dark expression as he kicked his hand off of him, but he felt himself freeze when a razor sharp purring was heard. He turned off his light, but the sound was emanating from around them. Hoshi held his breath as he faced his decision.

[Hoshi finds himself in a compromising situation surrounded by enemies. What should he do?]

>Use this opportunity to his advantage, and steal the final pearl

>Hide and ensure his safety.

**Vote below! And beware! Your decision affects their fate!**

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> VOTE BELOW:  
> https://linkto.run/p/5QDC3KHM
> 
> I was expecting this to be a filler chapter, but I never expected how much ANGST could come out of it. 
> 
> What do y'all think Hoshi should do? Do you think both of them are going to die? Who knows? I'd love to hear your thoughts on it!


	19. Chapter 6.7: Your Choices Don't Matter

**[Hoshi chose to Hide]**

Hoshi looked around at the group of monsters surrounding them, fear filling in his soul,

“Fuck, I need to get out of here! There’s no point of grabbing the pearl if I’m de-!”

He felt something hard collide with his chest as his breath left his body. He looked to see what had hit him. It was a flashlight, the light illuminating his torso as he held it in his hands. Hoshi reeled back as the monsters closed in,

_No… This can’t be the end… Rantaro!_

He reached out for the Adventurer who was backing away slowly. A flash of regret ran through his face before a certain coldness settled in. Hoshi shivered. It was colder than the water, colder than ice, and he watched helplessly as the other teen swam away.

\---

Rantaro swam low to the ground. He was mildly surprised at how easy it was to grab the last pearl. When the great beacon of light shined from the chest, he expected all of the tentacle monsters to turn on him, but he guessed they were too busy ripping Hoshi’s body apart to notice.

A certain heaviness laid on his chest, but he ignored it, choosing to focus on the sandy surface hoping to find the trail of sticks he left so he could find his way back to the cage. 

_ I didn’t want to do it, but I had to… I need to get back... _

Without his light, it was much harder to see in the inky darkness of the ocean, but he still was able to feel the faint figures of the trails of sticks that were sticking out of the sand. He followed the trail mindlessly until he found himself touching the cold steel of the cage. 

He swam inside, feeling around for the cord that hung on the top of the cage. He took one last look at the ocean before pulling the cord.

_ I’m sorry, but you understand. I need to get back. My sisters are depending on me. _

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> A true suffer story! Short and miserable.
> 
> Might post again later this week. Might not. Online class is kicking my ass, and I AM NOT HAVING FUN!
> 
> [EDIT] Sorry I know it was short, but I accidentally made it too short! Hopefully, this added bit is better


	20. Chapter 7.0: Heroes Vs. Monsters

Everyone waited on the platform, all too anxious for conversation as they waited for one of their friends to ascend from the water. Shuichi looked over to Kaede as she nervously rubbed the back of one hand with her other thumb.

_ She must be really worried for Rantaro. I don’t think I’ve ever seen her like this. _

He took a deep inhale before letting it go in one exaggerated sigh. A dull ache resided in his heart.

_ Why does it bother me so much that she likes him? It shouldn’t, but I can’t help it… Ever since they both became the class representative, they’ve been spending so much time with one another I feel like I haven’t had anytime to talk to her. And ever since we landed in this hellhole, they’re basically conjoined to the hip! God, why am I like this!? _

He gripped his head in frustration as he grumbled quietly to himself. He was soon brought out of his thoughts when the sound of chains cankled loudly in the background. Shuichi could see the relieved expression on the Pianist’s face when a certain green-haired boy came into view. 

“Hey.”

Rantaro waved as he exited the cage. He was soon met with praise and hugs from the class as they crowded around them. 

“Did you get the key?” Maki asked,

“Uhhh…” Rantaro looked panicked for a moment before realizing that the cord he pulled earlier had a key attached to it, he grabbed at it, “Yeah, right here.”

“So Hoshi is…” Gonta looked away, unable to finish his sentence.

“Yeah,” Rantaro said, placing a hand onto the big guy’s lower back, “I’m sorry…”

“N-No,” Gonta shook his head as he gave a small sad smile, “Gonta is glad to have you back.”

“Anyways, we have the key now. We should get out of here!”

As everyone descended the stairs, they all were surprised when they found the once destroyed cabin now standing strong as if a giant tentacle didn’t demolish it. 

As they opened the door and entered, Shuichi observed the ever-so-slight guilty expression on the Adventurer’s face:

_ Something must have happened down there. I’m sure of it… What are you up to, Rantaro Amami? _

\---

As they entered back into the empty ruin, Shuichi took a wide look at the class:

_ Rantaro, Kaede, Kaito, Maki, Gonta, Tenko, Kokichi, and me... That makes 8 of us now, and we still have 5 more rooms to clear. In the end, there will only be 3 people left…  _

He shook his head, ignoring the future prospects of him or his friends dying in the near future. He instead chose to stare at the stone statue above the door they were entering. Outside of its agape mouth were fangs, and the bulked up furry body only made Shuichi wonder what kind of new hell they were entering. Shuichi shut his eyes, fearing what he was going to see on the other side.

The first thing he felt was the slight breeze on his face. It was cool and felt nice on his skin. He could feel his heartbeat slow down as the gentle rustle of leaves calmed him down. He opened his eyes slowly, taking in the scenery,

_ Woah, are we back at the 2nd trial? No, this place is different… _

He looked around at the forest before them. Unlike the other forest which was full of pine trees, these trees resembled the droopy willow trees that he used to play in as a child. The only difference was the glowing purple fruit that hung from it’s branches. He looked in awe as the fireflies blinked in and out of the nightly forest, lighting the beautiful plants that surrounded the place.

He turned to watch the faces of his fellow classmates. Tenko was in awe as she looked out into the forest, Gonta was happily holding a curious firefly in his hand, Kokichi had his eyes closed as he breathed in the fresh night air, and Maki and Kaito were staring out into the distance hand-in-hand. He turned to the left, finding Kaede’s and Rantaro’s face the most peculiar. 

Drops of tears were dripping down her face. At first, he thought she was crying at how beautiful the scenery was, but the look in her eyes was clear: fear. And Rantaro was… Shuichi couldn’t point it out as a mix of emotion swirled in those green eyes of his. Regret? Anticipation? Fear? Guilt?

He looked away, completely conscious that staring was wrong, and turned to stare at the forest again.

“Okay guys,” Rantaro said, the dark expression on his face completely disappeared, “We can’t let our guards down. Whatever is waiting for us out there probably wants to kill us. We should grab the key as fast as we can and get the hell out of here.”

The whole class followed him into the illuminated forest. 

“Hey dude,” Shuichi looked to his side, finding Kaito right next to him, “Haven’t talked to you in a while.”

“Yeah…” he responded awkwardly, tension started to build in his chest as he chose to focus on the mystical plants they were passing. 

“Uh… This forest is really pretty! It’s almost like straight out of a movie!” the astronaut grabbed an overhanging leaf and pulled it off, “Wow! Everything in this forest seems to be glowing! Shuichi, look at this le-!”

“Kaito,” Gold eyes locked onto lavender, “Why do you keep sacrificing yourself for me?”

Kaito was taken aback, “I- Well- You see-”

Shuichi felt himself collide with something hard. He looked up, finding that he had just walked into Gonta’s back,

“Ah, sorry about that, Shuichi.” the big guy apologized,

“Don’t worry about that. Why did we stop?”

“I don’t know, but Rantaro stopped so I thought I should too.”

Kaito shimmied his way to the front where the male class representative and his girlfriend was hiding behind the cover of the drapey leaves,

“What’s going o-!”

“SHHHHH!” the two shushed. Maki pulled the leaves apart like a curtain to let everyone else see.

“I-Is that a kid?” Tenko whispered,

Just as she said, there was a child in the clearing. From what Shuichi could tell, it was a boy. Just a normal boy. Not some monster or demon, but a small child playing with himself.

_ But what is a child doing in the middle of the forest at night? _

“I think we should go out,” Kaede whispered, “he doesn’t look like he can hurt us.”

“Yeah, and the next thing we know is that he’ll bite our heads off,” Kaito said, “We’ve come across kids in the past, and they were little monsters.”

“They can’t kill us before the death game. That hasn’t been done before,” Maki stated, “If this kid has the key, I’m pretty sure that we can convince him to just give us the key.”

“Why wait for some dumb kid to give us the key? I’d say we just knock the little bastard over, take it, and run.” Kokichi snickered as everyone looked at him in horror,

“W-We can’t do that!” Tenko yell-whispered “He’s just a kid!”

“And? What is he going to do? Tell on us?” 

“No,” Rantaro said, bringing the attention back to him, “That’s just one sure way to get killed even faster. Maki’s idea was good. I’ll go with her and we’ll talk to him.”

He opened the green leaf curtain for Maki to step through before following her. They slowly approached the boy as everyone else was spying through the trees.

‘Why did he pick Maki to go? Maybe he’s planning to actually just kill the kid.” Kokichi said, peeking from underneath Shuichi,

“Well, it’s probably because she’s pretty good with kids. Remember when our class went to the Preschool? She was by far the best at handling children.” the Detectives stated as he watched as the two teens happily chatted with the boy,

“Hey, I was pretty good with the kids too…” Kokichi pouted,

“More like you were a child yourself,” the Aikido Master waved a random branch away from her face to get a closer look, “Do you know how hard it was to stop 30 hell bent toddlers from destroying the place?”

“What can I say? I’m a born revolutionist,” the Supreme Leader replied, “Plus that was one of the best riots I’ve ever seen in my life!” 

“Spoken like a true degenerate…” Tenko whispered to herself, “Oh! They’re coming back!” 

“Okay guys, good news,” Rantaro said as the two entered back into the forest, “He’s willing to give us the key as long as we play a game with him.”

“A death game?” Gonta asked,

“No, just a regular game. Something about heroes and monsters?” Maki stated.

The two ushered the entire class to follow them in the clearing where a boy about 9 years old was standing. Shuichi was pretty taken aback at how innocent and normal the child looked. He had on a pair of brown trouser overalls on and a cream colored shirt underneath. Hiding underneath the big mop of curly brown hair was a happy child. 

“Peter, these are all of our friends,” Rantaro said as everyone waved hello to the boy “They’re here to join us for that game you were telling us about!” 

“Wow really!” Peter exclaimed, showing off the one missing tooth in his smile, “This is going to be awesome!”

“Okay, little buddy! What are we going to play today?” Kaito asked,

“Heroes vs. Monsters!” the little boy brightened up, “It’s a game where heroes and monsters have to fight each other until they save their Princess! And each group has a leader, and they get to choose who gets what class, and then-” 

“Okay, Peter, why don’t we choose who gets to be the leaders first.” Maki said, 

“Oh okay.”

He walked around the group, inspecting every student carefully. Shuichi could feel tension building in his chest as the child circled around him several times. He felt a hard jab to the side and gave out a very unmanly screech. After that, the boy soon left him to observe Gonta’s huge muscles.

After inspecting everyone, he made his way to the front of the class,

“The leaders have been chosen,” he said formally, “The Leader of the Heroes will be the small guy with weird hair, and the Leader of the Monsters will be the tall guy with the beard.”

“M-Monsters? Why am I the Monster Leader? Shouldn’t I be the hero?” Kaito said,

“Neeheehee, he obviously saw that an overgrown ape like you should be considered a monster.” Kokichi sneered as he stepped forward to join the boy’s side.

“Now the two leaders have to pick their members! Mr. Monster, you can start first!”

_ Oh fuck…  _ Shuichi thought  _ It’s just like elementary all over again… They’re all going to get picked before me and I’ll be the only one left!  _

“Shuichi!” Kaito grinned, “Get on over here!”

Shuichi brought his head up, surprised that he was actually chosen. He soon scampered to the Astronaut’s side,

“Hey! I wanted him!” Kokichi pouted, “Fine! Then I pick Gonta.”

“Maki.”

“Tenko.”

There were only two people left, Rantaro and Kaede who left, both looking very awkward. Shuichi crossed his fingers:

_ Kaede. Kaede. Kaede. Kaede. Kaede. Kaede. Kaed- _

“Kaede.”

Shuichi let out a sigh of relief as the Pianist joined them. Rantaro gave an embarrassed grin,

“Well, can’t argue with that! I guess I’m a Hero!”

“Okay, now what kid?” Kaito asked,

“Now the leaders gets to assign everyone a class!” the boy said handing each boy 4 figurines, “There are 4 classes: Paladins, Mages, Archers and Princesses! The Paladins get a sword and can push back the enemy, the Mages has a staff that can create a barrier of protection, and the Archers can paralyze the enemy with their bow for 5 seconds! The Princess’s role is to be protected!”

“Oh okay…” Kaito said as he lead his group farther from the other, “Now let’s see…”

He picked one of them up and inspected it,

“I think that’s the Paladin since it has the sword.” Shuichi said, “And that one should be the mage, and that’s the Archer.”

“And this must be the princess!” Kaede said, pointing at the last figurine, “So how do we decide everyone’s role?”

Everyone turned to Kaito who seemed to be deep in thought. 

“Maki, I think you should be the Archer since you have the most field experience out of all us. I think I should be the Paladin, and for the Mage,” he looked at the remaining two concerningly, “Kaede.”

“Wait, so I’m going to be the Princess?” Shuichi exclaimed, a little bit hurt that his best friend gave him the most useless role.

“Yeah, but hear me out,” Kaito pulled the entire group in an enclosed circle, “I don’t know, but I don’t trust Kokichi. He’s definitely planning something dirty. Shuichi, you know him the best. You’ve been hunting down this guy for who knows how long? Either way, I’m assuming that this game is going to be Capture the Flag style where we have to steal each other’s Princesses which means that most of the time the Princess will be observing the playing field the entire time. Shuichi, you have the keenest eyes out of all of us so I need you to keep watch on any plans that Kokichi might be using.”

Shuichi was speechless. He had never known the Astronaut to be so serious, but he actually made a well thought out plan. 

“Okay, I understand. I’ll do my best!” he responded,

“Great,” he flashed another bright smile, “So onto our plan. Maki, do you think you can shoot from above?

“Yeah, no problem.” she stated blandly,

“Good. I think it would be great if you could shoot from the trees that way you can paralyze the enemy for me to take the charge. Kaede, I want you to protect Shuichi. Anyone that passes Maki, I need you to delay them until I come back with their Princess. Okay? Does everyone feel alright about their positions?”

The entire group nodded in agreement and Kaito pumped his fist in air,

“Alright, let’s do this!”

He passed everyone their respective figurines before making their way back to the kid. To their surprise, Kokichi’s team was already there waiting for them.

“What took you so long?” Kokichi whined, “We’ve been waiting here fooorrreeevvvveeerrr… Could a no brain monkey like you not even come up with a decent plan?”

“Why you-!”

“Save it for later,” Maki whispered, she pulled herself closer so she could whisper directly into his ear, “Let’s wipe this gremlin off the face of the planet.”

The couple exchanged a solid moment of agreement before turning to the entire group. They watched as the child bounced excitedly,

“Okay! Before you guys get transported to the playing field, let me explain the rules! The goal of this game is to steal the other team’s Princess, but if the other team steals your Princess, you lose! Also a few things to mention! 1) Everyone, but the Princess, will be wearing the same cloak to hide their identity! 2) The Princess will be hiding in the base, and they’ll be strapped to a chair! If an enemy frees the Princess, they can move however they like, so you have the choice to either kidnap the Princess in their chair or drag them all the way back to your base! 3) Also no matter how far away you are, you’ll be able to talk to your team mates at any time! Is that it? Yeah, I think that’s it. Anyways, have fun!”

Shuichi couldn’t even comprehend that last bit before he saw a flash of light engulf his vision. 

\---

When he regained his bearings, he found himself unable to move.

_ What the hell? What’s going on? _

He looked down. Just like as Peter had said, he was strapped to a wooden chair. He jostled around hoping to move himself by an inch, but the action was futile. He was locked down onto the ground. He sighed heavily,

_ I guess I’m stuck here. _

He looked at the playing field. They were in a clearing much similar to the one they were at before, but it was divided in half by a white chalk line. In the distance, he could see 3 blue cloaked figures standing in front of a small stone building. He looked around him finding one red cloaked figure standing just a few feet in front of him and another standing a few yards away from the right of him.

_ That must be Kaede and Kaito… They haven’t even acknowledged me at all. I wonder if I’m in a building too and the walls are transparent to me…  _

He was soon brought out of his thoughts when Peter walked in the middle of the playing field with a large horn in his hand, Shuichi couldn’t hear what the boy was saying but he could feel himself tensing up.

_ No. Stop worrying. Kaito’s plan is solid. There’s nothing that should go wrong.  _

The huge blaring sound of a horn rumbled in his ears, and Shuichi watched helplessly as he saw Kaito run ahead. 

“Alright, let’s win this!” 

Shuichi jumped in his seat. Startled by the sound of Kaito’s voice in his head.

_ Woah! Peter wasn’t kidding when he said that we could talk to each other! _

Shuichi watched as Kaito encountered an enemy, swinging his sword down onto his enemy’s head. The sound of iron clashed hard against each other. Sweat dripped down Kaito’s forehead as his arms were forced downwards, and soon he felt something wrap around the shaft of his sword before he tumbled hard to the ground. The cloaked figure gave an additional blow to his chest, sending him crashing to the ground a yard away. Shuichi stared in shock as the enemy continued to deflect Kaito’s attacks and pushing him farther back,

_ They just keep tossing him to the ground while barely using their swords! Those circular movements, always deflecting… Wait a minute, _

“Kaito, back off! That’s Tenko! She’s using Aikido to block your attacks!” he yelled out loud,

“Yeah no kidding!” A voice rang through his head, “But I can’t escape! She won’t let me leave!”

“No worries. I’m coming.” Maki responded. A large flash of light speared through Tenko’s chest before she stood frozen still. Shuichi grimaced hoping that it wasn’t as painful as it looked, “Kaito, go find their Princess. I’ll try to keep her there. Kaede how are you holding up?”

“I-I think I’m doing alright! I’m pushing this guy away from the base!” Kaede piped up.

Shuichi watched as Kaede used her protection magic to push the other Mage away. Even farther ahead, he could see Kaito running to the enemy base as Tenko did her best to follow him before another flash of light impaled her. A surge of proudness ran through him as he saw his friends fight off the assailants, but something felt deeply wrong. 

_ There’s only two of them… Where’s the third? _

_ \--- _

_ “A fortified truck just crashed into the main entrance of the museum!” One of the guards yelled through the walkie talkies, “It’s overflowing with D.I.C.E members! We need backup!”  _

_ The Detective heart started racing as he made his way towards the stairway. He stopped in his tracks as he saw a square metal piece lying on the ground and the pitch black hole within the walls. _

_ “The air vent grate has been removed. Why would anyone do this?” _

_ Panic surged through his body as the realization hit him. He raced towards the Egyptian area, finding the two bodyguards collapsed on the ground. He ran toward the jewel display: _

_ “The ruby! It’s gone missing!” _

_ The sound of footsteps hitting marble rang through the adjacent hallway. He chased towards the sound discovering a white cloaked figure running ahead of him.  _

_ “Neeheehee, this is getting fun.” the thief giggled in a voice much younger than he expected, _

_ The two ran around the museum until the thief was finally cornered in a dead end hallway full of windows.  _

_ “Stop!” Shuichi yelled out as he brought out the gun that his uncle gave to him, “You’re cornered! You’ve got nowhere to go!”  _

_ The thief turned around, revealing the porcelain clown mask and checkered scarf. The moonlight illuminating him like a spotlight, _

_ “Awww you’ve got me…” he said, raising his hands to the sky, “But you wouldn’t shoot me, would you Shuichi Saihara?” _

_ He flinched backwards. How did he know his name? He only used an alias during his detective work!  _

_ “You’re right. I wouldn’t.” he put the gun back to his holster, “But I’m still going to take you in no matter what it takes. Whoever you are, Phantom Thief, I’ll bring down you and your organization!”  _

_ Shuichi stared at the stagnant smile on the clown’s face. The faint sound of carnival echoed from below. _

_ “Neeheehee, you’re interesting, Detective. But I’ll let you have it this time,” The clown giggled, “But alas, that’s my cue! I’ll see you tomorrow, Mr. Detective!”  _

_ Shuichi yelled in horror as the thief ran through the glass and fell off the building. He immediately ran to the edge, dreading to find the bloody body on the ground, but he found nothing. The only thing of interest was the reckless clown car running through the streets. _

_ He pulled himself back from the edge before discovering the thumb-size ruby sitting beside his foot. He picked it up, examining the refractions within it, with only one thing in mind. _

_ “What did he mean by ‘I’ll see you tomorrow’?” _

_ The next day, the mysterious 16th student of the 53rd class of Hope’s Peak Academy finally showed up.  _

\---

_ It can’t be! _

“Maki! Watch out!” he yelled, “These two are only a diversion! He’s going to come through the back!”

Shuichi could feel his heart beat loudly in his chest before a scream erupted in his ears,

“Guys! Someone help!” Kaede screamed,

Shuichi turned his head, finding Kaede cornered by two blue cloaked figures. 

_ Something must’ve happened to Maki if Tenko could move again. We’re in big trouble! The only way to win this is if Kaito comes back with the enemy Princess right now! No one is with the Princess! It should be easy to grab them! _

“Guys, big problem,” Shuichi could feel himself tense up at those words, “The Princess is Gonta. I-I can’t carry him by myself.” 

Dread filled inside Shuichi’s chest, but it soon turned into panic when the door came crashing in. Another blue cloaked figure waltzed in,

“Princess, have no fear, for the hero has come to save the day!” the enemy announced, “Or at least that’s what a glorified kidnapper would say, neeheenee.” 

Shuichi squirmed within the restraints, desperate to escape as the enemy raised a bow right in front of him. He soon felt a flash of pain surge through him before he felt his muscles stiffen in place.

He watched as the figure golt closer, making quick work of the restraints, before stepping out and calling for his other two teammates to join him. As the other two got closer, he could feel his muscles loosening up and landed a hard kick to one of the enemies stomachs. 

“Ow! That hurts!” A female voice rang,

“Wait, hold up,” The bow was soon brought out once again, and soon he found himself frozen once again, “Okay, we’re good now.”

Shuichi was soon thrown over what he assumed to be Tenko’s shoulders before barrelling out of the base. He looked behind him, spotting a shaky red figure in the tree, drawing her bow. A flash of light flew straight at them before it was deflected by the enemy mage. He could see another red cloaked figure running after them before the enemy Archer impaled her with an arrow. 

It didn’t take very long for the ending horn to blare out, and soon he could see the exhausted faces of Rantaro, Tenko, and Kokichi around him. He was soon let off Tenko’s shoulders,

“That was pretty fun.” Rantaro smiled, stretching out his shoulders,

“Says you. You didn’t get kicked in the stomach.” Tenko rubbed her stomach area in pain,

“Getting kicked in the stomach is nothing! Maki almost killed me!” Shuichi stared at the scrapes, cuts and bruises that littered Kokichi’s skin, “Look! I think I’m bleeding! Shuichi, kiss it to make it feel better!” 

The Detective brushed the hand away from his face as the rest of their class came to join them.

“That was a good game guys,” an exhausted Kaede said, “You got us good.”

“Making Gonta the Princess was a smart choice,” Kaito grimaced, “We never would’ve won even if we had the best plan.” 

“I guess Gonta is a little heavy…” he smiled embarrassingly, “But Kaito’s team played very well!”

Maki stayed quiet, still grumpy, but unable to really keep the attitude at the merry atmosphere. They watched as Peter came running through the field towards them,

“Wow, that was awesome!” he yelled, “It was almost like the actual battle!” 

“Battle? What battle?” Rantaro questioned, turning to face the boy,

“The Battle between the King’s army and the Witches of the Forest! After the King won, the Witches were pushed back further in the depths of the forest!”

“That forest doesn’t happen to be this one, right?” Shuichi could feel the dread starting to build,

“It doesn’t matter!” Kaito stormed up to the kid, “Just give us the key! Let’s get out of here!” 

Peter quickly took out the key and placed it in the Astronaut’s hand. Collectively, they all dashed back towards the forest until a wall of twisted branches shot out of the ground.

The 53rd class turned around terrified, seeing the billows of fog rolling in slowly as a floating figure approached. Maki could feel the young boy cower behind her as he hid his face in her skirt.

“Humiliating… Absolutely humiliating… To have our greatest defeat, presented in such a scornful fashion is… Unforgivable.” 

As the woman came closer, the clearer Shuichi could see her. Much like the hoods they were wearing earlier, she was wearing one too, made out of some wolf pellets and it glistened brightly in the moonlight. Shuichi would have called her a beauty due to the long straight black hair that flowed behind her if not for the large burn that swept along the left side of her face. There was only sadness, anger, and great pain hidden behind those milky grey eyes. Those burnt lips pulled back in an angry scowl,

“Boy, the key.”

Peter swallowed in fear before handing it out to the scary lady. She snatched it within those long fingers of hers before turning away,

“By midnight, two sacrifices will trek up this mountain alone. If no comes, I will destroy the village and come for your heads. All of you will vote to decide who goes up, but you will only choose among the ones who impersonated and disrespected my people.”

And just as quickly as she had come, the witch transformed into a crow, and flew towards the mountain. In her place was the infamous deck of cards that would decide their fate.

Maki picked up the deck, shuffling the cards in her hands as she scowled, “Just as I feared. This deck only has mine, Kaito’s, Kaede’s, and Shuichi’s name in it.”

“That means… half of you guys are going up there?” Tenko asked. She sent a panicked gaze over to Kaede who was staring dreadfully at the ground,

“Wait if that’s the case,” Shuichi stated, the panic starting to settle in, “That would mean that if the voting was fair, we all have a 25% chance of being voted in? Or would that go up to 50% because we’re drawing twice? Wait a-”

“That doesn’t matter,” Everyone turned to Kaito, “Everyone just vote for me. I was the leader and I made that plan. If anyone should be voted in, it should be me.”

“No!” Maki yelled, “Kaito, don’t do this. Stop setting yourself to die every single time! You can’t keep sacrificing yourself every single time!” 

“Well what am I supposed to do?!” Kaito yelled back, “I can’t just sit back and just watch my girlfriend and two of my friends get voted in! If I knew this was going to happen, I wouldn’t- I wouldn’t have dragged all of you on my team…”

Kaito turned away from the group, shielding the tears by staring at the wall of gnarly branches, “Please… All I ask is that everyone just votes for me. Someone’s going to have to die anyway, perhaps I can convince the witch to just take me instead.”

Maki stayed stone faced. All kinds of emotions flashed through her face before she stormed away towards the mountain. Shuichi thought she was going to trudge up the mountains herself, but she planted herself behind a tree out of sight. No one decided to follow her, knowing that the girl would be caught dead before being seen in a moment of weakness. 

Shuichi found himself trembling. The mental stress and the building guilt of it all was finally getting to him. He collapsed on the floor, bringing himself into a tight ball against the trunk of a tree,

_ This… Is insane. I can’t stand watching the two of them fight… Is there really nothing I can do? _

A sudden flashed in his mind.

_ No… _ he denied,

But his thoughts reeled back to the memories of when he first met the two. How Kaito became one of the first people he met when he joined the school, and the determination he had to befriend the Assassin. 

He remembered spending lunch with them on the rooftops, walking home towards the dorms every single day, and spending nights outside just looking at the stars. 

He remembered when Kaito had confessed to him his crush on the girl, and the countless nights of preparation they did for the confession.

He remembered that even though the two got together, not once did he ever feel left out. He was always happy to be by their sides.

_ They deserve so much better than to die in some shitty ruin! _

He quickly got up, and started running towards the rest of the class. He pulled the 5 students as far away from Kaito as possible, bringing his voice down to a whisper, 

“Guys, I know this is selfish of me to ask, but can you guys vote for me instead?”

He was met with whispers of confusion before he shushed them all to be quieter,

“Please, I know for sure that both Kaito and Maki think that one of them has to go in the game, but it doesn’t have to be that way! Please, I beg of you, vote me in instead.”

The rest of the students looked uncomfortable. Never has the voting process ever been so personal. Almost everyone nodded silently before dispersing from him. Shuichi only had to hope that they took his words to heart

“Shuichi, do you understand what you’re asking for?”

He turned to the side, surprised to see that Kokichi was still standing right next to him,

“Yeah, I do.”

“It’s attachments like that that’s going to get you killed,” the smaller boy said, “Sacrificing yourself for someone else isn’t noble. It’s stupid.

‘Kokichi,” the Detective spat out, “Having people that you would die for is what makes life worth living. I wouldn’t expect you to understand. All you care about is yourself.”

And just like that, he left the Supreme Leader there, alone in the moonlight.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> VOTE BELOW:  
> https://linkto.run/p/NEJ6QYK7
> 
> This was probably the hardest chapter to write, and it was a biggie too! Hopefully, you enjoyed the drama in this chapter, and I'd love to hear your thoughts on the voting, the future, or the characters themselves!


	21. Chapter 7.5: Drinking Between Brothers

Shuichi stared desperately at the cards in front of him, unable to choose,

_ No matter who I choose, it’s going to be someone I care about!  _

He could feel himself shuddering as he picked up [The Detective] card.

_ This should be the obvious choice....  _

He handed the card to Peter who solemnly put it in the deck. Shuichi could see the guilt written on the kid’s face.

“Alright, that’s everyone.” Peter announced sadly. 

Everyone circled around, the atmosphere heavy with anxiety. He could feel the sweat start to form around his palms as he watched Peter fumble with the cards. The boy flipped the chosen card in his hand,

“The Ultimate Astronaut.”

A sharp inhale was heard behind him. He turned his head to find Kaito’s head slung low and nodding as if he had been preparing for this outcome the entire time. As Shuichi turned his head back, he could hear the deep breaths and small encouraging mantras that the Astronaut was muttering to himself. As the kid continued to shuffle the cards, his eyes fell on Maki and the slight heaving in her chest. Her eyes were not tearing up in the slightest, but full of dread and anger as she stared forward.

“The second one going into the game is,” Peter flipped the card around in his fingers, “The Ultimate Detective.”

Shuichi simply nodded to the statement. It’s what he was expecting this whole time. Just as the second sacrifice was announced, the thick fog from the mountains rolled back in, almost beckoning him inside. He gave into the urge, his feet following it’s wispy trails. 

From behind, he could hear heavy footsteps behind him. Something within his heart was reassured knowing that his best friend was alongside him on this hike of inevitable doom. As the two neared the mountain trail, they could hear the sound of two additional footsteps running towards them.

“Shuichi! Kaito! Wait up!” Kaede yelled as she trailed behind a very furious Maki,

Kaito stepped back in fear as the Assassin barrelled towards them, tackling the Astronaut to the ground. 

“Why? Why did you leave without saying anything?” she yelled, glaring daggers at the other boy,

“I-I thought you didn’t want to talk to me!” he brought himself up to a sitting position. With Maki so close, he could finally see the scrapes on her face that she got from earlier. He instinctively reached out to wipe away the dried up blood and dirt. Despite what was going on, all of the pain and fear melted away from having her so close. A surge of pain swelled in his heart as he pulled her into a tight embrace, “You’re right. I should’ve said something. I-I was just afraid to say goodbye!”

He felt his sleeve being tugged on with a certain kind of desperation, “But you’ll come back right? You promised me.” 

“I-I’m not sure if I can keep that promise this time.”

He felt her lean back from the hug. He bit the inside of his cheek expecting some kind of teary refusal, but instead a light hand wrapped around his as he gazed into solemn sad eyes. 

“Okay, this time… Promise me that you won’t make any stupid mistakes… And that from now on, you won’t make a single decision that you’ll regret.”

He kissed her knuckles, ghosting over the hard calluses, “I promise. I won’t regret a single thing from now on.”

He pulled her forward, leaning down to capture her in what may seem to be their last kiss.

Shuichi turned away, not wanting to accidentally interrupt their tender moment, and he found himself standing in front of the Pianist.

“Uh… Hi.”

“Hey,” She responded, her eyes casted low to the ground, “I-I just came here to wish you good luck, Shuichi. And that I’m really sorry…”

Shuichi saw tears starting to fall down the Pianist’s cheeks. She apologized, laughing awkwardly, as she wiped them away. It was at that moment that Shuichi’s heart surged and suddenly everything made sense.

_ Tell her! You need to tell her you like her! _

“Kaede, I-” he stopped himself as he stared into her lavender eyes, “I… Just wanted to say thank you.”

She took a step back, clearly shaken, “What?”

“Thank you for everything you’ve done. For the class. For me. Kaede, I’ve never met anyone as kind and compassionate as you are. You put in so much effort in making sure that all of our lives are filled with hope and happiness. Even once we landed ourselves in this freakish hell, you were still there to comfort me in my worst of times. Kaede, thank you so much for everything you’ve done for me.”

“Shuichi, I-” All kinds of thoughts flashed through her head, but when she stared up at those sincere golden eyes, she could feel her heart at peace. She pulled the Detective in a hug, “Thank you. Shuichi, take care of yourself, okay?”

“Yeah,” he laughed, “You too.”

The two quickly pulled apart. The small tender moment broken as Shuichi joined Kaito’s side. The two turned to see the rest of the class who was shouting words of encouragement and waving goodbye. As Shuichi waved back, he could see the solemn expression on the Supreme Leader’s face.

_ That’s weird. He looks sad, but also… Determined? _

He excused those thoughts, turning away, but from the corner of his eye he saw something black and white flying in the air. He turned around once again seeing Kokichi waving his checkered scarf in the air. A soft reassurance settled in Shuichi’s heart as he recognized the gesture. Everytime the thief would leave the crime scene, he would always wave his scarf around as he ran away, cackling the whole time. 

“You ready, dude?” Kaito asked, looking better than he did moments ago,

“Yeah, I think I am.” 

Giving one last goodbye to the rest of the class, they faced the treacherous mountain. The encouraging words of their close ones carrying them the entire way.

\---

Kokichi tied the scarf back on his neck as the figures of the two teens finally disappeared into the fog. The pangs of pain surging in his chest started to fade away as everyone around him left to go sit in the grass and wait for their return. 

He heard a loud sigh on his left. He eyed the little boy beside him as he wiped away the snot on his sleeve,

“I sure do hope that they come back…” Peter sniffled, “I really did like them…”

“Hey kid, why are you lying?”

The child stared at the not-so-tall teenager, “Huh?”

“I said, why are you lying? You don’t give two shits whether they come back or not,” Peter took a step back as the Supreme Leader came closer with a dark look in his eyes, “Tell me. You are actually a part of this entire scheme, right? There’s no way in hell that a random kid would just randomly have the key.”

Peter’s terrified expression disappeared when he flashed a wicked fanged smile as his pupils shrunk into slits and glowed with a yellow hue,

“So it seems that one of you has critical thinking skills,” the monster chuckled, “Too bad that you couldn’t stop your two friends from being chosen.”

“To be honest, I don’t care about stopping these games. What I want to know is who’s behind it all, so indulge me in a little secret,” he dropped his voice down so the two of them were the only ones to hear it, “And tell me who the mastermind of this ruin is.”

\---

Shuichi wiped off the sweat on his brow. He never was one to go on hikes, so the constant uphill was doing a toll on his body. 

_ If I survive tonight, I’m going to be so sore by tomorrow… _

He thought as he hoisted himself over a large rock. Despite all the effort, he was surprised at how calm he was. Climbing up the mountain with the Ultimate Astronaut made things a lot more bearable. Apparently, the night sky they were under right now was exactly the same as the one back at home. The entire time the purple-haired teen was pointing at constellations and telling the stories that came along with it. 

“Wow, it’s so amazing that the sky is so clear here! You can see everything!” Kaito happily said, before stopping suddenly in his tracks,

“Kaito?” 

Shuichi looked beyond his friend, seeing the large stone gate blocking their path. In front of it was a hunched hooded figure waiting for them, it’s wiry fingers wrapped around a stick that was holding a lantern. As they approached closer, the silent person held out two pieces of paper for them. Shuichi took it, finding 20 drawings of bottles on it and the words “Remember these” written on top. 

“What’s this for?” Kaito asked as he took the paper, flipping it back and forth.

The person ignored him as the heavy doors of the stone gate rumbled open. Kaito and Shuichi looked at each other before hesitantly following the strange person through the gate.

As they walked, Shuichi stared at his paper. 

_ I guess I have to remember these. _

On the paper was a drawing of 5 glass bottles. The first was some kind of bubbly green liquid in a circular container with a long neck protruding from it. The second was a square cup with some orange drink inside. The third was of a dark blue liquid in some kind of bowl. The fourth was of purple liquid in a similar looking bowl while the fifth was some kind of icky yellow drink in a triangular shaped-container. 

He closed his eyes, trying to etch the picture permanently into his brain.

_ Green, circle. Orange, square. Blue, blow. Purple, bowl. Yellow, trian- _

He collided into something. The concentration he had moments before disappearing into his mind, 

“That was fast. We’re already here.”

The two teenagers found themselves in front of an open mouthed cave. Something inside was glowing an eerie green color as a large female shadow loomed in it’s light.

Their escort ushered them inside, pushing them in with light shoves to their backs. Shuichi could feel the anxiety radiating from Kaito as he did his best to put on a brave face. 

As they entered the cave, the first thing they noticed was the large shelves that lined up around the walls. On each shelf was a multitude of different potions each varying in different colors and shapes.

“Welcome,” The two jumped at the voice, not expecting to find the witch hiding behind them. Shuichi could feel himself shudder as she stared at them with burning hatred, “So they sent you two… The Princess and his Knight… Very well…”

She beckoned them to follow her deeper into the cavern. Shuichi realized that what they had seen was only a small portion of the cave as he realized that the cavern had another floor below it, and the shelves were in fact 2 stories high. He could feel himself in awe as he descended the stone staircase.

“You two will simply test out my newest batch of potions,” She gestured to a smaller shelf alongside the wall, “Within this batch are 5 poisons, lethal enough to kill a 100 man army. You two will ingest each one until one of you passes. I care very little about how you may decide who drinks what. The only thing I care about is that you won’t help each other.” 

And just like that, the witch walked into the shadows and disappeared, leaving the two alone in the cave,

“Ha ha, I guess this isn’t so bad…” Kaito sheepishly grinned, “After all, we still have the cheat sheet!”

He pulled the parchment out of his pocket, surprised when the parchment simply crumbled away into dust. 

‘’Oh, I guess not,” he said disappointingly, “What now?”

Shuichi crept closer, observing the contents within.

_ 10 shelves and 10 bottles on each shelf which means that there are 100 potions to drink from, but only 5 are lethal. We can’t stop until one of us dies… _

He turned back, spotting the table in the middle of the room, “We can each take 10 bottles at a time and carry them over to that table. Does that sound okay?”

Kaito scratched his goatee, thinking it over before holding up a thumbs up, “Yeah, I’m down!”

He immediately walked over to the shelf, eyeing it as if he was simply buying groceries at a supermarket. He looked at the shelf, overwhelmed by the different varieties,

_ I don’t remember seeing any pink or red potions on the list… _

He quickly grabbed the first 10 pink and red potions he saw, hauling them over to the wooden table. It didn’t take long for Kaito to join him with his haul, consisting of light blue potions.

Shuichi lost his focus in the glittery swirl of one particular drink, the dread of possible death settling in as it consumed his thoughts. He quickly shook his head, erasing the dark thoughts as he grabbed the drink. He stared straight at Kaito as the two held their first drink in their hands, Kaito gave a small smile as he clinked his bottle with Shuichi’s.

“Cheers, I guess.”

He quickly tipped the bottle into his mouth, guzzling it down fast as Shuichi took his like a shot. The bitter taste of bubblegum medicine invaded his mouth,

“Aghhh! That’s terrible,” he said, trying to shake the disgusting flavor away,

“Tell me about it. Mine’s tasted like absolute dog shit.” Kaito grimaced before screaming out loud, “Shuichi, your hair!”

Shuichi reached out to grab a piece of his hair, finding it dyed a strawberry pink color. He looked back up to the Astronaut, staring at the bubbles that escaped out of his mouth. He laughed out loud,

“Like you’re one to talk!” 

Kaito grabbed the empty glass that he just drank out of, examining the outside, “What the hell is this? Why would you even make this?”

“I don’t know, but I guess each potion does something different.”

“Well, I guess the only way to know is to keep drinking.”

Kaito drank his next potion as Shuichi followed. The two enjoying the weird outcomes of each potion as they laughed together. 

_ Even though this is a death game, I’m oddly at ease. Is this because Kaito is with me? _

They soon found themselves with 20 empty bottles, luckily nothing drastic had changed other than when Shuichi found a fire breathing potion and burned a part of Kaito’s goatee off. They headed over to the cabinet as Kaito scratched his singed beard. 

_ 80 more to go…  _

As Shuichi searched, he recognized something familiar. A bright orange potion in a square bottle. He could feel his heart race as he stared at it,

_ That’s one of the poisons! If I drink that, I’ll die! _

He quickly picked up some black and brown potions, confident that these weren’t any that were on the list. He then watched as Kaito squat in front of the confident, his hand hovering over the orange poison. Shuichi slapped a hand over his mouth,

_ I-I can’t help him! That was one of the rules! But Kaito don’t pick it! _

As if the Astronaut had heard his plea, Kaito’s hand instead chose the lavender potion right next to it. Shuichi felt a sigh of relief before going back to the table with him. They soon resumed their next round of joyful drinking,

Kaito slammed down his 13th drink on the table,

“Aw man! My stomach feels like it’s going to burst!” 

“I mean she was kind enough to provide us a bucket,” Shuichi said, pointing to the wooden bucket in the middle of the room, “What I need is the restroom…”

“When in doubt, use the bucket.” Kaito responded, drinking down his 14th drink.

Shuichi gave a small chuckle before taking another sip from his. All of the happy memories that he had spent with Kaito ran rampant in his mind, and a growing ache in his heart throbbed at the thought that their time together was limited. 

Still, he kept his smile as he laughed when Kaito’s nose grew 5 inches longer. He acted surprised when he started speaking backwards, and even made several trips to the bucket when he needed to. 

By the time he had snapped back to reality, they were already making their third trip to the cabinet. He observed the pale yellow drink in the round bottle, and a sudden memory surged into light.

_ Black beady eyes… Fuzzy yellow fur…  _

_ Hey, let go of him! _

Shuichi jumped when something cool touched the back of his neck,

“Hey, you done yet? You’re staring real hard at that one bottle.” Kaito joked as he held his handful of bottles,

“I was just checking if it was the right one.” Shuichi frowned, grabbing the light yellow fluid. 

“Yeah, whatever. Join me at the table once you’re done.”

The Detective nodded as he watched his friend leave. When he turned back, he quickly picked out his other 9 drinks and joined Kaito at the table.

“Alright, Round 3! Let’s get it going!” he chugged the bottle in his hand, “Bet I could finish my 10 faster than you.”

“Hey! You already have a head start!” Shuichi said, trying to quickly chug his own drink. 

As the weird liquids passed down his throat, he could feel himself growing more relaxed, but when the flavor of a smoked salmon touched his tongue, another memory burned itself into his skull,

_ One shaky hand raised in the air…  _

_ It was me.  _

He slammed his final drink on the table, claiming his victory as Kaito choked on his last drink.

“God that’s rancid… Shuichi, try it.” he tipped the bottle towards the Detective,

“No! Why would I want to after you said it’s gross!” 

“I need you to confirm something for me,” he held the milky clear drink up to a light, inspecting the insides “Because I’m pretty sure this is straight up vinegar.”

“I’m good.” he said as he laid back, watching the Astronomer gag as he drank the remaining potion.

They soon went back to the cabinet. Shuichi grimaced at the selection,

_ 40 left… All of the easy ones are gone… It’s starting to get harder to tell which is the poison. I wonder if I can still remember what they looked like! _

This time the two went slowly as they chose, inspecting each one carefully. Shuichi brought a dark blue potion up close to his eye. The shimmers and the small dots of light in it reminded him of the stars.

_ Desperate brave eyes staring deep in his soul. _

_ If anyone should be voted in, it should be me. _

When they got back to the table, the cheery atmosphere was nearly gone as Shuichi continued to stare at the inky galaxy in a bottle. Shuichi noticed that Kaito had also gone quiet as he stared longingly at the blood red potion in front of him.

The two drank in silence. The hole in Shuichi’s heart now consuming him as all the happy memories of the boy in front of him became daggers digging into his skin. He needed to breathe, to end the silence.

“Hey Kaito, why do you keep sacrificing yourself for me?”

Kaito slowly lowered the empty bottle from his lips. Obviously, not expecting such a serious question to arise,

“Well, I-I, You see-” he exalted loudly, “I-I don’t know dude! It’s just that whenever you’re in trouble, you look so scared... L-like the world is crashing all around you... I just can’t help but jump in, y’know? I can’t let my best friend just die on me…”

Shuichi didn’t know how to respond, so the only thing he could muster was “Oh.”

“B-But don’t take that the wrong way, man!” Kaito exclaimed, almost jumping out of his seat, “It’s also that I know that you can get everyone out of here… You’re smart, and you always have the answers. If you die, it’s hopeless for the rest of us. The least I can do to help is to make sure that you don’t die...”

“Kaito…” Shuichi stared straight at the other teen as he gave a small smile. “You don’t understand your capabilities. You’re strong and you keep the spirits high within our group. You may be impulsive at times, but you’re not stupid. You can make do without me.”

“Shuichi, I-”

“No, it’s fine. All this time I thought I was being a burden on you, but it was nice to know that you never thought about me like that. Let’s just drop it, okay?” Shuichi chugged the bottle in his hand, “Let’s just enjoy the time that we still have together. After all, we still have like what? 18 bottles left?” 

Even though he wanted to press further, he realized that the Detective was right. Why spend their last moments in tears when they could enjoy it? He scruffed the other’s hair,

“Well, look at you! It seems that you do know math! Maybe one of these will finally cure you of your math incompetency!” 

And so, the cheery mood came back as the two continued to chat happily with one another almost as if it was another day of eating lunch on the school rooftop. As soon as they finished their last drink, Kaito could see the surprised expression on Shuichi’s face as he stared at him. He could feel sweat start to drip down his forehead,

“Hey, dude, are you okay?” he asked,

“Yeah , I’m fine.” Shuichi said, “That one just had a super weird taste to it. C’mon, let’s get the next 10.”

He followed the Detective to the cabinet. He could feel the despair returning to his chest as he stared at the last 20 bottles on the shelf. This would be the last round and the last time they would talk to each other. He didn’t know if he could keep the happy atmosphere any longer.

Kaito struggled as he juggled too similar looking green potions with one another, unable to remember the shape that was on the drawing.

_ Aw fuck it. I’m taking the heart-shaped one! _

He looked over to Shuichi who looked like he was struggling as well.

_ That’s weird. He hasn’t chosen any yet. He looks like he’s frozen in place…  _

He watched as Shuichi held an orange and a blue potion in his hand, look visibly confused,

_ I wonder… He’s been kind of weird since he drank that last one. _

“Hey Shuichi,” the black-haired boy looked up at him as he held up a pink potion, “Look. Don’t you think this one looks cool?”

“Uh, yeah…” Shuichi smiled awkwardly, “The color is pretty cool. It kinda looks like melted gold.” 

Kaito reeled back, 

_ Gold? It’s pink! Don’t tell me he drank something that made him colored blind! _

He watched in terror as Shuichi picked his potions. Even though he didn’t know any better than the other teen, the possibility that he was picking every single poison and he couldn’t say anything was frightening. 

“You ready?” Shuichi asked, holding his 10 in his arms. 

Kaito nodded as they made their way back to the table. His eyes watching the unsuspecting teen as he sat down in his seat. He could notice the droplets of sweat forming on his neck,

“Okay, round 4!” Shuichi announced, a little shakily, as he grabbed a red potion in a bowl.

As he was about to take a drink from it, Kaito stopped him,

“Hey Shuichi, wanna try something new?” the Detective looked at him in confusion, “In college, at parties, they sometimes do this thing where they intertwine their arms together as they drink from the other’s glasses. Wanna try that together?”

Shuichi stopped to think.

_ I thought you’re supposed to drink from your own glass.  _

He looked at Kaito’s eyes. They were kind and friendly, but a hint of desperation laid behind those purple orbs.

“C’mon, Shuichi, don’t you trust me?” he said, smiling.

[After a long night of bonding with Kaito, they finally make their peace with one another. Now Kaito is asking for a gesture of trust and brothership from Shuichi, should Shuichi trust him and go through with it?”]

> Trust him

> Don’t trust him

**Vote Below! And Beware! Your decision affects their fate!**

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> VOTE BELOW:   
> https://linkto.run/p/65UORX1Q
> 
> This chapter was so painful to write, but I'm really excited to see how you guys vote! I'd love to know who you voted for and why! Also would love how you thought about the chapter overall! This wasn't as cruel as some of the other games, but I feel was a good fit.


	22. Chapter 7.7: Fair Verona

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Y'all are funny.   
> Y'all are so fucking funny.
> 
> I almost had a heart attack reading the polls and finding a 50/50 split decision on who to choose, and I almost died trying to decide who dies.
> 
> Anyways, hopefully, y'all enjoy what I did for this chapter and you guys never fail to disappoint and make the writing process 100x more interesting.

Shuichi stared at his reflection within his drink only seeing himself in the bloody red depths. He looked back up meeting the friendly yet desperate yellow eyes. A muscled arm outstretched in a gesture of friendship,

“Well?”

Shuichi nodded as he hesitantly interlocked his arm around the others. As one part yelled at him to trust his friend, the other screamed at him to drink from his own cup. It was like he was split in two, a war within his own mind, with severe casualties on both sides. Only one thought ran through his head:

_ Couldn’t there be any other way? _

“You ready?” The Astronaut’s voice faltered just the slightest,

“Yeah.”

“On the count of 3. 1… 2…”

[Shuichi Couldn’t Decide]

Almost reflexively, the Detective pulled away. The bottle slipping from his hand and smashing onto the ground below. He found Kaito staring at him in a manner of shock,

“Shuichi, what are yo-”

“I don’t want to choose!” Shuichi yelled, “I don’t want to choose decide who lives through a stupid fraternity game!” 

There was a moment of silence as Kaito thought about what he had said, his face contorting into a series of confused expressions.

“What? Was there a problem with my game? We can do something else if you want!”

“No… That’s not what I mean,” the Detective exhaled loudly, pinching the bridge of his nose, “I’m trying to say that we don’t have to throw away our lives like this! We can try to find a way so both of us can survive!”

“I’m all for it, man. But I don’t see how we can do it,” Kaito saw the slight disappointment on his friend’s face before relapsing, “You know what? But if it means that we can both go home then I’m willing to try!”

“Great! Because I think I have a plan,” Shuichi walked over to the vast amounts of shelves that lined the wall, “Look! Do you see how many potions there are? I don’t know why I never saw it before, but she left us alone with all of these.”

“Don’t tell me you plan to drink all of these too?”

Shuichi shook his head, “No, not at all. What I’m trying to get at here is that just from the small batch that we tried, every single potion did something different to us. Who’s to say that there isn’t anything useful to us in one of these bottles?”

Kaito slowly put the cogs together, “Yeah, you’re right! One of these has to be like a cure or something! But how are we going to find it. There’s like thousands here!”

Shuichi thought about it as he observed the shelves, trying to put himself into his Detective mindset,

_ Kaito’s right. If we just pick at random, we might as well go back to our drinking game. But I wonder… There’s so many potions here. How does she keep track of all of it? None of these shelves are labelled and there doesn’t seem to be any organization of the color or bottles. Wait a minute… _

He looked back at Kaito in a moment of brilliance,

“She must have a book or at least some sort of record! Maybe we can find it and see what kind of potions are there!”

“Yeah, you’re right! If she didn’t know which were the poisons, we wouldn’t have ever gotten the paper that had all of the poisons on them!”

“That’s true…” Shuichi frowned, “But if she finds out we’ve been looking around, I wonder what she’ll do to us.”

“Hey, lighten up,” Kaito gave a big sunny smile, “She technically never said that we couldn’t go snooping around. If I remember correctly, she said that she didn’t care what we did.”

“Well then, I guess we should start searching. I’ll take the left side while you search the right.”

Kaito nodded before running towards the other end of the cave. Something fluttered in Shuichi’s chest. It was something that he hadn’t felt in a very long time: Hope. Shuichi could feel himself grin as he scoured to look for any paper.

\---

Shuichi sighed as he put back the bottle on the shelf. Since there was really nothing in the cave other than the walled-up shelves, he had thought that maybe the witch would hide something within them. 

_ Maybe we were wrong. Perhaps there is no way to get out of it... _

He went back to the table finding that Kaito was making his way over as well. 

“Please tell me you found something.” Shuichi asked,

“I mean not really anything special, but I did find this.” 

Kaito took out what looked to be a collection of papers. He handed it to Shuichi who examined it. To him, it seemed to be a poor attempt to make a book as the brown papers were loosely connected to a piece of thread. He flipped through it, looking at the scratchy poorly drawn pictures on each page.

_ It’s like a kid tried to make their own picture book… There’s even some words underneath, but it’s kind of hard to read. _

He squinted harder, trying to decipher the chicken scratch on the pages,

_ Once upon a time, there was a Princess who longed to attend the Human’s Ball.  _

_ But the Monster King forbid her from attending _

_ “The humans are selfish!” he yelled, “They will deceive you with their words of justice, and then kill you when you’re back is turned!” _

_ “Then I will turn my back to nobody,” the Princess pleaded, “All I want to do is attend the Ball.” _

_ As much as the Princess pleaded, the King refused to listen. _

_ But so, the Princess was still determined. She disguised herself as a human nobleman and snuck herself into the castle using magic. _

_ It was there when she first met the Human King’s Daughter, and it was like the stars aligned. _

_ The two danced all evening, but still they kept in touch long after. The Princess found herself meeting her love almost every night. _

_ Until one day, as she climbed the vineyard as she always did, she found the Human Princess crying on the balcony.  _

_ “My love, why are you crying?” _

_ “My father is planning to send me away tomorrow! I may never see you again!” _

_ As the Princess bawled, a certain thought crossed the Monster Princess’s mind. She pressed a bottle into the other’s hands, _

_ “After you retire from dinner, drink this. You will not wake in the morning, and it will seem as if you were dead, but once the moon rises I will be here to take you away.” _

_ And soon after that, she transformed into a crow and flew away.  _

_ The next night as the Princess climbed the vineyard. She was soon captured by the Palace Guards. _

_ “It was her!” her love cried, “That was the witch that tried to poison me! It was her!” _

_ And so, the Princess was dragged to the dungeon where she was tortured and blinded by the Human guards.  _

_ But little did she know that over her steel cage was a war between the Humans and Monsters.  _

_ When the Princess had finally escaped, she found no home to go home to and no family to return to.  _

_ The Witch then retreated into the forest, never to be seen again. _

_ May this be a lesson to little monsters that all humans lie. All humans steal. And all humans cheat. _

Shuichi closed the book, surprised at how the innocent looking picture book turned out to be extremely depressing. He dropped the book on the table,

“That wasn’t really helpful... “ he said, the despair starting to creep in,

“I don’t know,” Kaito pondered, “There was something about that potion that was in the book that was interesting.” 

“What do you mean?”

“Well, I was just thinking that it reminded me of Romeo and Juliet. The Princess drank something that appeared to be poison, but actually wasn’t,” Kaito brightened up, “That’s it! I know what we should do!”

Shuichi looked at him questioningly. His brain too tired to put the pieces together,

“We need to find the same potion as the one in this storybook, so that it’ll look like one of us died when she comes! She says that the game won’t die, so we’ll trick her into thinking that one of us died!” 

“Kaito, you’re a genius!” Shuichi yelled, “So now that we know the potion we need to get, we just have to figure out what it looks like. Let’s take another look at the picture book…”

He flipped through the pages again until a certain picture caught his eye. It was a scratchy picture of two stickmen holding a black heart between them. It was the scene where the potion was given to the Human Princess.

“I think the bottle we need to find is a black bottle in the shape of a heart.” 

Kaito nodded, and soon the two went their separate directions to find the bottle. The Detective and Astronaut searched the shelves one by one, desperate to find the fairytale potion. After 10 minutes of searching, Shuichi found a pure black fluid encased in a heart-shaped crystal bottle.

“Kaito, I found it!” 

He grabbed the bottle as he made his way back to the table. The other teen ran excitedly over,

“Good going, dude! I knew you always had a sharp eye!”

As he held the bottle to his eye, fear struck deep inside of him. What if it didn’t work? What if this was the wrong potion? What if what he picked was poison and he doomed them both? He was soon drowning in a sea of fear, until a certain voice broke from the surface,

“Hey Shuichi, I can drink it. You don’t have to do it.”

He looked up at the Astronaut, the same concerned face staring back at him. He felt guilt override in his chest before shaking his head,

“No, it’s fine. I can do it.”

“I mean I totally can! I really don’t mi-”

“Kaito, I’m not saying this out of formalities. If you drink this, I won’t be able to carry you down the mountain. That’s why it has to be me.”

Kaito thought about it sternly before nodding. He didn’t look happy about it, but Shuichi was relieved that he didn’t have to argue with him about it.

“Well, bottoms up I guess.”

Shuichi tipped the bottle into his mouth. Tears started to roll down his face as the burning sensation ran down his throat. As he choked back the last remaining drops, he could feel his heart burning. He looked up at Kaito in fear as an overwhelming sensation overcame his body, and a large amount of blood splattered onto the table. 

The last thing he saw was Kaito’s mortified face before collapsing onto the ground.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Let's be honest:  
> Shuichi could never make it as a frat boy. He would absolutely be obliterated by any hard alcohol. 
> 
> Anyways, that's the tweet. I really do appreciate your comments, and they really do make the writing process more fun! Let me know your thoughts, your worries, and what the hell you guys did for that last poll because that was some crazy group work right there? 
> 
> Even though I really enjoyed it, next time this happens I will kill someone. I just couldn't do it to one of my boys. It was too hard to choose!
> 
> (Also would love to hear the people who wanted one of them dead, because I was so conflicted over what to do)


	23. Chapter 8:0: Judgement Day

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> So sorry for the late post! Last week was midterm week, and I was so exhausted that I couldn't write this chapter! Hopefully you enjoy!

“Shuichi? Shuichi!” Kaito yelled as he ran over to the other side. He shook the other teen violently, hoping to get some reaction, but when the fear-stricken expression stayed stagnant on his face, Kaito felt dread fall upon his entire body.

_ No. It can’t be. He’s not dead. He’s… Just asleep. I need to… Recollect myself… _

As he breathed slowly, he could feel the tears rolling down his cheeks. Seeing his best friend dead in front of him was too jarring, even if he knew that he would wake up. Kaito sure did hope that he would wake up. He turned his head as he heard the sound of heels clicking on the stone stairway,

“Well, it seems that the Princess succumbed to the poison,” The witch stated as she entered the area, “And it seems that you won the game. Congratulations. You may leave now.”

As the Witch turned to leave, Kaito yelled out, “Wait! I can’t leave just yet!” 

She raised an eyebrow, “Why not? You won. What else do you need?”

“Please let me take him with me!” Kaito pleaded, “I-I can’t leave him here! I have to bury him somewhere nice!”

“Why? He’s already dead, and the dead won’t care what you do to their body. Now leave.”

“No! I won’t leave until I’m allowed to take him with me!”

The Witch scowled as she approached closer to the Astronaut. Her milky white eyes getting dangerously close to his. Deep down, he was glad that the Witch was blind because he was pretty sure he looked terrified, but who knows? Maybe she could smell the fear rolling off of him,

“Leave or I might not know what I’ll do to you.”

“No.”

Kaito could feel the sweat roll off his forehead. He couldn’t read her expressions at all, and he wondered if he would end up as a mile of meat on the floor.

“Fine, you may take him with you,” The witch huffed, her long dress swirled behind her as she angrily walked up the steps, “But be quick. Your stench is swarming my cave.”

Kaito stood there in shock. It was almost too easy to get her to agree, but he wasn’t going to question it. He hurried over to Shuichi’s side, grimacing as he turned the boy into a lying position. He could feel himself shuddering as he stared at the open scared eyes of his friend’s body. Kaito swiped his hand on the Detective’s face, closing his eyes into a melancholy calm. 

_ Don’t worry, Shuichi. I’ll get you home.  _

He took one last deep breath before picking up the other teen bridal style, surprised at how easy it was to pick him up. 

_ I need to get out of here before she changes her mind. _

He made his way to the stairs, careful to not accidentally drop the Detective. As he reached the last step, he saw the witch waiting for him, the light illuminating the burns on her fair face.

“You took too long.”

“Oh, sorry about that! I’ll leave right away! Sorry for bothering you, bye!” He rambled as he hurried over to the cave exit, 

“Wait,” He froze in place as an intense glare bore itself through his back. He turned around slowly, “You forgot this.”

She held out the key necklace from earlier before, looking quite annoyed at the Astronaut’s behavior,

“O-oh right. Thank you.”

Since he couldn’t take the key from her hands, he bowed his head as she slipped the key onto his neck. He pulled away from her the instant he felt the cool metal touch his skin before stammering a quick thank you before running off. 

\--- 

Everyone sat quietly as they all waited for something to appear from the fog. Ever since the two had left, no one had the energy to talk to each other. Even Kokichi was uncharacteristically quiet as he dug through the dirt with a random stick he found. 

It wasn’t until the sound of yelling caught all of their attention,

“GUYS!” 

Kaito ran through the fog, looking terrified, as he held something in his arms. Maki was the first one to stand up and run to meet the Astronaut, catching a glimpse of the shocked faces of both Kokichi and Kaede.

As the Astronaut tried to catch his breath, everyone around him started asking questions,

“Oh my God, what happened in there?”

“Are you okay?” 

“Is that Shuichi?”

Maki pushed herself between the crowd, getting everyone to back off, as Kaito gulped down a final breath.

“Shuichi’s not dead… We tricked the Witch into thinking he’s dead, and that’s why we have to leave… I have the key, so we have to get out of here right now before she-”

A flash of lightning boomed from the top of the mountain before Kaito shouted,

“She found out! We gotta go right now!”

Kaito handed over Shuichi to Gonta before sprinting out of there. As they slipped back into the dense of the forest, they heard more thunder roar in the distance. 

“There! There’s the door!” Kaede shouted, the sound of thunder now became deafening as lightning struck right behind the group, 

Kaito ran ahead of the group, reaching the door before anyone else and flinging it open. He leaned against the open door, keeping it open for everyone to run inside. As the last person ran in, he took one last look back to find the angry Witch barrelling towards him.

Kaito yelped as a shot of lightning burst through her hands. He quickly dove through the door, shutting it as an immense force collided with it.

“Hahhh, that was close.” He exhaled loudly,

“Is everyone okay?” Kaede panted,

Everyone nodded as they all regained their composure. After that, they all crowded around Shuichi, who was still laying limp in Gonta’s arms,

“He should be waking up any time now,” Kaito said, “I wonder why he’s not awake yet.”

“Perhaps Shuichi needs some help!” Gonta responded, starting to jostle the Detective in his arms a little too roughly. When the teen didn’t wake up, a small sad smile formed on his face,

“I mean how are we even sure that he’s not… Y’know?” Tenko let everyone fill in the gap of what she meant,

“If that was the case then the Witch would have no reason to chase after us,” Maki pushed past everyone else, laying her head on Shuichi’s chest, “I can hear him breathing, but he’s struggling. I don’t think he’s going to wake up anytime soon.”

Kaito felt the world weigh on his back. Did he just condemn his best friend to a life inside a coma? Is it possible that he would never wake up again?

“I mean there has to be some way we can wake him up.” Kaede said, trying to lighten the mood,

“And there is!” Everyone screamed as Monokuma suddenly appeared, “He drank the Witch’s potion and is in an eternal sleep~ The only thing that will wake him up is True Love’s Kiss~” 

Everyone stared at the bear, truly unsure if he was joking or not.

“I mean, we could try-” Kokichi piped up,

“No. No we’re not,” Maki interrupted, “That sounds like a perfect way to get the rest of us poisoned as well.”

“No. I think Monokuma is onto something,” Everyone stared at Rantaro to understand whether they actually heard their class representative agree with their captor, “I mean CPR. Maybe he won’t be able to wake up since he can’t breathe. Kokichi, is it okay if I use your scarf?” 

The Supreme Leader took off his scarf with no questions before handing it to Rantaro. Everyone watched as the Explorer laid the scarf over Shuichi’s face, and bent down to start performing CPR.

“Upupu~ I was only joking, but it seems that our little Playboy is not as straight as everyone thought he was!” 

The bear roared in laughter as everyone watched uncomfortably. Gonta, in particular, as his eyes were blown up to the size of dinner plates since he had a first seat view. It didn’t take long for the Detective to sit up and start hacking his throat out, a black liquid splattering on the ground.

“Shuichi!” Everyone rushed to meet the drowsy teenager as Gonta rubbed circles on the Detective’s back,

After Shuichi made sense of his bearings and everyone caught him up to schedule, he looked fearfully at Rantaro,

“Are you okay? You shouldn’t have done that!”

The green-haired teen just shrugged it off, “It’s fine. I used Kokichi’s scarf as a barrier so I wouldn’t get poisoned myself. But now that we’re all here, I’d say it’s time to move onto the next room.”

A moment of silence ran through the room. They all had the same thought: Already? Isn’t it too soon? We just got one of our friends back, and now we’re jumping back into death?

Everyone slowly got up, the tiredness of the entire night now finally settling in. As Shuichi shakily stood up, he could feel his legs wobbling underneath him. 

_ Hahhh-that poison did more damage than I imagined… I’m honestly luckily to be alive right now. _

He felt his right leg give out, and as he fell backwards he felt someone grab onto him.

“Whoopsie-daises! Did my Shumai forget how to walk? You’re totally trembling!” 

Shuichi grumbled as Kokichi helped him to stabilize himself. The entire time a steady hand rested on his back for support,

“I-I’ll be fine. I just need to get used to it again, but thanks for helping me.” 

The two slowly made their way towards the door, straggling behind everyone else. Just as they were about to enter the dark void, Kokichi whispered something in his ear,

“Say Shuichi, what would you think if I told you that someone in our group was lying?”

“Wait what are you talking about?”

Shuichi never got his answer as they walked into the next room. It was very similar to the entrance that they were in before. A circular room made out of pure cold stone. At the front of the room were a group of statues. All of them looked quite horrified as they were being towered over by a giant statue of a blindfolded angel. As she was holding a sword in her right hand, she held out a golden scale in her left. The pedestal underneath her read “The one who can see the truth is the one who can truly see.”

As Shuichi and Kokichi walked further inside, they found a round emblem engraved in the ground. The same angel was drawn onto it, and the words around it read,

“All criminals will be persecuted in the stone of justice…” Kokichi grimaced, “Sounds pretty stupid if you ask me.” 

“What are we supposed to do? There’s nothing here.” Kaede said, surveying the blank walls, 

“Maybe that scale is an important clue. It’s the only thing here that isn’t made out of stone.” Everyone watched as Tenko climbed the large pedestal, going on her tippy toes to barely reach the golden scale.

“THIEF! CRIMINAL! HERETIC! ALL INJUSTICE SHALL BE PUNISHED! THIEF! CRIM-”

Just then, a loud alarm played as the room turned red. The screeching continued to play incessantly as everyone shut their ears. 

Tenko screamed as she toppled to the ground. She slowly opened her eyes to find the blinded angel pointing the sword directly at her chest,

“All criminals who live a sinful life will be persecuted within the stone of justice.”

The 10 foot angel grabbed Tenko by the arm and dragged her towards the middle of the room. Everyone watched as Tenko struggled to break out of the angel’s grip as the emblem rose from the ground, revealing a hidden stone pillar with a glass door in the front.

The angel then proceeded to throw the Aikido Master inside, shutting the door before she realized what happened. Everyone then proceeded to crowd around as Tenko slammed onto the glass,

“Someone! Please! Get me out!”

“If you wish to leave, 4 of your friends must agree and put their hands on the pillar. After you get let out and no one is chosen to step inside within 10 seconds, the pillar will choose randomly between the 4 on who will step inside next. If no one decides to save you, you can repent for your sins by confessing one great secret. If not, you will be punished within a minute’s time.” 

A small panel on the top of panel lit up within the red room revealing a countdown of 60 minutes. Tenko took a step back before slamming into the pillar with her full weight,

Kaito turned around to face the Angel: “We’re just supposed to jump into it like that? What happened to the voting system?” 

“There will be none. Each of you are equally guilty and all will be put on trial for their life. Only the most evil of you will be punished.” 

“Kaito, we don’t have time!” Kaede yelled, “We have to get her out of here now!”

Kaito swiveled around, finding the timer at 45 seconds. He found Kaede, Shuichi, and Gonta placing their hands on the pillar. All waiting for the last person to step in, but the adamant faces of Kokichi, Rantaro, and Maki all made it clear that no one wanted to potentially sacrifice themselves,

“Aw fuck it!” 

Kaito slammed his hand on the pillar as the glass door opened up, and Tenko collapsed on the ground. She then crawled out, getting as far away from the stone pillar as she could. Everyone watched as the timer resetted to 10 seconds,

“We have 10 seconds to either choose someone to go in,” Shuichi said, “Or else one of us will be chosen!”

5… 4… 3… 2… 1…

As the timer reached zero, Kaito could feel something grab his arm and pull him forward. He slammed his nose into the hard concrete before realizing what had just happened. He turned around, slamming his fists into the glass, as he stared out.

_ If I just say a secret then I’ll be let out right? _

“Uh… I didn’t stop wetting the bed until I was 12!” Kaito pushed on the door, no budge.

“You must reveal a secret that changes people’s perspective on you,” the Angel scoffed, “Wetting the bed is no sin.”

Kaito went through his head, trying to think of something that he’s been hiding. He looked out to find Shuichi and Maki trying to convince other people to join them. It was then that he remembered something,    
  


“M-My parents separated when I was 4! And neither of them wanted to deal with me so they dumped me onto my grandparents!” 

The door swung open, letting Kaito free. He then joined the group, waiting to see if anyone else was willing to take his place, but when he realized that everyone was backing away. He decided it was best to just do the same before the countdown reached zero.

3… 2… 1…

A stone hand shot out from inside the pillar. Grabbing onto Shuichi’s leg before quickly pulling him in. Everyone watched in horror as Shuichi slammed his palm on the glass,

“Uhhhh… I-I…”

_ Shit, he can’t think of anything! _

Kaito ran towards the pillar, placing his hand on it before finding Kokichi and Kaede right next to him. He looked pleadingly at the rest of the group before Maki came running over and placing her hand as well.

As Shuichi left the pillar, only one thought ran rampant in his mind, as he watched as no one stepped up,

_ There doesn’t seem to be an end to this! We’re going to be here forever unless we all choose who will die! _

As the timer reached zero, Kaito stepped back as Kokichi was abruptly pulled into the pillar. The teen watched from the inside as no one stepped up to let him out, he could something within him shrivel up,

“I have a secret organization with 10000 members!”

He pushed on the door. Nothing.

“Um… I’ve killed a lot of people in my life! More than I can remember!” 

No push.

“Kokichi, just tell the truth,” Maki said, “You must have some sort of secret hiding behind all those lies.”

Kokichi gulped as he thought about his past. The painful and embarrassing memories rushing through his head. He tried so hard to hide them, was it worth it to spill them all out right now? 

“Kokichi, just say anything!” Shuichi yelled from outside, “You have 30 seconds left!”

He stared at the Detective, realizing that he was the only one that was willing to put his hand on the pillar. It was then that something popped in his mind,

“Neeheehee, actually I do have something,” he pressed himself towards the glass, making sure to make eye contact with everyone, “I know the identity of the person who invited us to this place. If you don’t let me out, you’ll never find out who in the group is the traitor!” 

Maki pushed her way forward so she could be the one standing face-to-face with him, “How do we know you’re not lying?”

“I could very well be, but this time I’m not lying. Let me out and I’ll tell you guys exactly who the traitor is. If not, you guys can let me die and play with the person who put us in this situation!”

As the timer counted down, everyone became face with a hard decision:

Do they let the liar out and continue this tortuous game or do they sacrifice him and lose a valuable piece of information?

**VOTE BELOW**

> Let him out

> Do not let him out

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> VOTE BELOW:  
> https://linkto.run/p/65ME0XDQ
> 
> This chapter was super rough to write, so I'm really sorry if it's not as exciting to read! Besides that, I actually would love to know who you guys would like to die because I actually have no idea who to kill off this chapter, and I'm not going to keep anyone alive this time!


	24. Chapter 8.5: Angel of Stone

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I knew how you guys were going to vote (cause we're all Kokichi simps here), but I honestly don't know what I would've done if you guys chose to kill him. Well, I guess he would be dead then.

**The group decided to [Let Him Out].**

Hesitantly, Shuichi, Gonta, Tenko, and Kaede all stepped up to the tube, placing their hands gently on the cool stone surface. As soon as the door swung open, Kokichi stepped out with a wicked grin as he approached the group,

“Neeheehee, thanks guys~ That was really scary! Now just as I promised…”

He grabbed a handful of Rantaro’s collar before slamming him into the open tube and closing the door. Everyone watched in shock as Rantaro got up and peered through the glass with fear and confusion,

“Kokichi! What are you doing?” Maki yelled, grabbing the Supreme Leader’s sleeve,

“Didn’t I promise that I would find the traitor among us? Why are you getting mad at me?” he started to whine,

“W-We have to get him out of there!” Kaede said, rushing over to place a hand on the tube, “Someone come help me!”

As people rushed over, Kokichi held out his hand, “Wait. I wasn’t lying this time when I said that I would reveal who the traitor was. Anyone who helps him will put us all in danger.” 

Rantaro slammed his hand against the glass, a dark expression on his face, “And you think that I’m the traitor? How do you even know that there’s a traitor in the first place?”

“Peter told me. He never told me who it was, but he confirmed the existence of a traitor. I’ve always known from the start, but this is the only opportunity where I can actually reveal the truth of it all!”

“But why Rantaro?” Gonta asked meekly, “Why not one of our friends who died?” 

“Yeah!” Kaito yelled, “Rantaro has done nothing but help us! How could he be the traitor?”

“Do you guys still not understand what’s going on?” Kokichi mocked, a wide grin on his face, “In this game, what matters the most is to not be voted in. Those who are likeable, those who are trusted will never be voted in! His little ‘Team Leader’ act is a lie! And it seems that I’m the only one who can see it. Afterall, only a liar can see through another person’s lies.” 

Shuichi brought his head down as he contemplated Kokichi’s words. It seemed unbelievable… One more lie added onto his list of thousands, but as he looked at the dark and panicked expression on the Adventurer’s face, he felt himself slowly believing it. 

“That’s just baseless evidence,” Rantaro spat, “That doesn’t prove that I’m the traitor. It’s my job to be the leader for the class. Unless you have some sort of evidence that proves I’m the traitor then let me out! Please I only have 20 seconds left!”

A silence ran through the group. Everyone, unsure, of what to believe in anymore. As people slowly made their way towards the tube, Shuichi spoke up,

“There is a way we can find out he’s the traitor,” Shuichi faced Rantaro, “This tube can tell whether you’re telling the truth or not, and it’ll only let you out if you tell a reputation-destroying secret. Confess that you’re the traitor. If you are the traitor, it will let you out. If you aren’t then we’ll all let you out. If he gets out, we’ll all take turns stepping into the tube and confessing. If we all make it out then we know that there isn’t a traitor among us and that they’re either dead or never existed in the first place. So Rantaro, will you confess?” 

Everyone watched as Rantaro sighed heavily, resting his head on the glass, hiding his expression, “You got me. I-I’m the traitor,” He tilted his head up, an ugly scowl appeared on his pretty face, “But I’m not the only one. Kaede and I both decided to invite the entire class knowing what would happen.”

As the door swung open, he launched out before grabbing Kaede’s wrist and dragging her towards the tube. As she screamed, she fell to the ground trying to tear herself away from the Adventuer’s iron grip. 

“Hey! Let her go!” 

Gonta rushed behind Rantaro, grabbing him and trying to pry his hand off her wrist. The moment that Kaede’s arm was loose, Rantaro’s arm pulled back, smashing his elbow against the Entomologist’s face. Everyone watched as the giant toppled inside the tube and the door clicked.

“Huh?” 

Gonta awkwardly got up as he bent over, the tube being a tad too small for him. He pushed against the glass hoping that it would open, but when he didn’t he stared out at the rest of the class, his bent glasses tipping on the right side of his face. 

“Rantaro, why did you do that?” Shuichi yelled as he shielded Kaede from him. The Adventurer did nothing but glare menacingly at the smaller teen,

“Because if I hadn’t you all would’ve forced me back in there. If Kaede went in there then she wouldn’t have any secrets to tell since I already revealed her, but I guess it doesn’t matter anymore. Even if you let him out and put me back in there, I have so many secrets that this game would never end. I’m sorry, but I’m not going to die here.”

Everyone shuddered at Rantaro’s cold stare. It was the look of someone willing to do anything just to survive even if it meant betraying his friends. Kaito approached the glass as a concerned Gonta watched from within,

“It’s okay, dude. We’ll let you out. I’m sure that he’s bluffing anyways. No one can have that many secrets.” 

“I… Wouldn’t doubt it.” Everyone turned to Kokichi, his overly mischievous expression gone and replaced with one of seriousness and regret, “He’s the SHSL Adventurer. We know nothing about him or the things he’s done. He’s probably uncovered a lot more secrets than any of us imagines.”

“Then do you suggest we let him die!” Kaito turned around angrily,

“No! I-I wasn’t-”

“Stop. Please stop fighting…” Everyone turned to Gonta, big fat tears starting to roll down his cheeks, “Friends shouldn’t fight… Gonta doesn’t know anything about traitors or secrets, but Gonta doesn’t want his friends to fight. Gonta will stay here…”

“Do you know what you’re saying, you big idiot?!” Kokichi spat, “Do you understand that you’ll die if you stay in there?!” 

The friendly giant just casted his eyes downwards. A melancholy smile on his lips as the timer flashed 10 seconds,

“It’s okay. Gonta won’t be lonely. Gonta will rest with all of his bug friends in the warm dirt…” he looked straight at Kokichi, “I’m sorry. Kokichi must have been lonely this entire time…”

As the timer reached zero, a burst of white spurted out from the top of the tube, encasing the insides with heavy white smoke. Once it was over, the door creaked open, letting all of the smoke dissipate into the air. In the tube’s place was a marble statue of a giant with a kind smile. Around his neck was a shiny key.

Everyone was silent as Kokichi stepped forward, carefully stripping the statue of the key, he whispered to himself,

“Y-You idiot. You weren’t even going to be buried...”

As he grasped the key in his hand, he walked out of the room. Everyone soon followed in solemn quiet silence. All of them wondering what was to come.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> [2 Imposters Remain]
> 
> Sorry for the Among Us joke, but I was so conflicted writing this chapter! I did not want the best boy to die, but he lost the roll! But at least now, the writing slump is gone and I am a lot more confident in what will happen in the next few chapters! I'd really love to know your guy's thoughts on what is happening, especially on the traitors (even though it was super obvious), and whether you think someone else should've died in Gonta's stead!
> 
> Fun Fact: If this wasn't Reader-Interactive, Miu would've died in this chapter. 
> 
> See y'all next week!


	25. Chapter 9.0: Headless

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I fully recommend to not read at night, just fyi. 
> 
> Because I wrote this at night and I cannot sleep, and I don't know why I did this to myself. 
> 
> But like it's Halloween, so Spppooookkkkyyyyy~

The silence was deafening as everyone walked through the stone door. None of them able to say a single word after what had happened in the previous room. Shuichi bit the inside of his cheek, thoughts rushing through his head, as he pushed back the bitter bile that was ascending in his throat,

_ I knew that Rantaro was always suspicious, but Kaede? This can’t be real… I won’t believe it. Why would she do this? _

He felt a hand brush up against his sleeve before instinctively pulling it away. He stared at the scared expression on Kaede’s face,

“Shu-Shuichi?”

“Don’t,” he found himself saying a little more forcibly than he wanted, “I-I can’t do this.”

He turned away from the Pianist leaving her by herself as he hurried to join the rest of the group. Watching all of their facial expressions, it was obvious that they were all unsure of what to do now. The two people who they all thought they could trust and depend on turned to be the ones who could backstab them at any moment. Shuichi shuddered at the thought,

“So what now?” Kaito asked, “We can’t exactly trust those two anymore, but we still have three more rooms to complete.”

“Isn’t it obvious?” Maki said with a hardened glare, “We’re going to have to vote the both of them in for the next game.”

“I-I mean, how are we even sure that Kaede is a traitor? For all we know, Rantaro could have just thrown her under the bus to get the suspicion off of him.” 

Shucihi could hear the painful rasp in Tenko’s voice as she held back tears,

_ I feel so bad for her… Kaede was the one who supported her after Himiko died and after she went through that first game. They’ve been together this entire time, and now she’s one of the traitors. I almost want to believe it, but… Was that all an act?  _

“There’s no point in getting sentimental,” Everyone turned to Kokichi, who was the only person who seemed unbothered by the reveal, “Those two just lied back as they watched us die one by one. They could’ve easily warned us of what was going to happen, but they didn’t. I’d say it’s only right that we watch them suffer till they die.”

“Hey! Isn’t that going a little bit too far?” Kaito yelled, staring daggers at the smaller teen,

“Did you not just see what happened to Gonta?!” Shuichi could feel his breath hitch in his throat. It wasn’t like Kokichi at all to lose his facade, but the anger and spite that was resounding off of him was truly frightening, “Get it in your thick skull that those two are the reasons why we’re here in the first place! None of this would’ve happened if it weren’t for them, and it’s obvious that they don’t have any problems with sacrificing any of us.”

A heavier cloud of tension rested in the air as Shuichi could feel the harsh words weighing him down. He heard a small hiccup behind him. He turned around to find Kaede sobbing into her own arms, obvious that she had heard everything and the guilt finally bursting out. Shucihi turned away, trying to ignore the pitiful pains in his heart,

“There’s no point even thinking about it. Let’s just move on to the next room.” 

Everyone agreed as they all made their way towards the door with the large stone hanger on it. Before he walked in, he could feel the burning eyes of someone behind him. As he turned around, he caught the sight of a terrifyingly angry Rantaro glaring straight at him. He felt his heart beat faster as he entered the darkness.

\---

When he opened his eyes, the first thing he saw was the poorly lit figure of a cardboard hot dog with funky sunglasses and a chain. In the flickering yellow lights, he could barely read the worn door bright red lettering: “Kyle’s Hawt Dawgs”. He looked around even further to find that they were in some dark tunnel. He could feel his adrenaline spike as he realized that the only source of light was from the flickering yellow fluorescent lights overhead and the sounds of rats squeaking and water dripping resounded through the tunnel.

“Wh-Where are we?” Tenko asked, shaking a little,

“I think it’s an underground mall. There’s stores here, but I think it may have been abandoned.” Maki walked further, unbothered by the large teen gripping tightly onto her hand. They all walked together collectively down the tunnel, passing by 5 stores before stopping suddenly, “It seems that’s the end. There’s a metal shudder here, but it has 3 locks. I’m assuming that we have to find the keys to continue. We’ll have to split up.”

She turned around to stare directly at the traitors trailing behind them. A stagnant expression on her face as she addressed them, “It’s alright if you guys work together right?” 

“Uh… Yeah.” Kaede nodded awkwardly, unable to make eye contact,

“Then I’m with Shumai!” 

Kokichi pounced onto Shuichi’s arm, pulling him down as he held onto his arm. The once serious and scary expression on his face completely disappeared as it was replaced with an innocent and happy smile.

“Uh… Kaito? Maki? Is it okay if I come with you?” Tenko asked, a hint of desperation in her eyes as she asked,

The couple nodded, and soon everyone went off to start searching. Once everyone was gone, he found himself staring at the rusty shudders. It was heavily chained up, but beyond it was pure darkness. The only thing he could see was the brick stairs leading downwards,

“Looks like this floor seems to be just food stores, and it seems that below this is the fashion stores,” Kokichi said, looking at the faded map, “Hey! Let’s go to the Pretzel shop! I wanna see if they have any forbidden lemonade!”

Kokichi pulled him in the direction of the dilapidated store of “Sally’s Pretzels” before jumping over the stand and motioning Shuichi to do the same. 

Once Shuichi ungracefully jumped the stand, he stared at the messy store in front of him. In the middle was a rusted metal table where he assumed the pretzels were made as the dried up dough and patches of flour were forever stained on the table. Near the back, were counters that lined up the walls and while some had small ovens stacked on each other, others had old soda machines and lemonade holders on it. He watched as Kokichi peered through an especially grimy one,

“Aw man! It’s all gone!”

“Don’t tell me you would’ve actually drinken from there…”

He observed the room even more. Noting the pile of boxes that littered the room and the cashier and oven warmer in the front of the store. He grimaced as he looked around the messy store,

_ There’s a key hidden somewhere here? Hm? What’s this? _

He sidestepped the rather large mountain of box, noticing a black handprint curled around the corner of the box and a trail leading off of it. He stepped back realizing that there was a smear of black coming from one side of the mountain,

“Hey, Kokichi. I think there’s something here. Help me unload these boxes.”

The other teen groaned as they brought down the boxes one by one, soon revealing the door hidden behind it.

“This must be the storage room,” Shuichi thought aloud, “I wonder why it was hidden in the first place…”

“I don’t know, but I think we should open it.”

As Kokichi reached out for the door knob, Shuichi could feel something click in his head. The handprint. The smears on the floor. The hidden door. He felt something drop in his stomach,

“Kokichi, don’t!” he screamed,

“Why? It’s locked anyways. How boring…” 

As the Supreme Leader walked away, the Detective stared at the door.

_ Something happened here. Those smears… That handprint… Someone was dragged in and then someone blocked the door from the outside. I have a bad feeling about this… _

He turned away, feeling way too uncomfortable to stand near it any longer. 

“I don’t think the key is here. Let’s look somewhere else.” 

As the two left the store, they found Maki heading towards them with a timid Tenko and Kaito grasping onto her arms. 

“Did you guys have any luck?” Maki asked,

Shuichi shook his head, “No, did you guys find anything?”

“N-No. W-We didn’t find a key,” Kaio stammered, “T-Two of the shops were locked up, and the one we searched was em-empty.”

“But we did find this…” Tenko took out an old scrap of paper. It seemed to be an old map of the mall. As he looked at it, he realized a red dot drawn on,

_ That’s where Kaede and Rantaro are right now…  _

He also looked at the bottom right corner, the words scribbled on: “Those things strive on darkness. Keep Breaker on.”

“I guess we can all go there together then.”

They all walked towards the left most part of the tunnel where a frozen yogurt shop was. They all passed through the glass doors, finding Rantaro and Kaede searching through the boxes. 

“Have you guys found any of the keys yet?” Maki asked, in a deadpan tone,

“No luck.” Rantaro responded, getting up to stretch his legs and back,

“Shouldn’t you guys already know where the keys are? Didn’t you set this up?” Kokichi said as he stared up at the ceiling,

“No, we don’t,” Rantaro spat, “We’re just as lost as you guys are. Don’t think that we want to do this any more than you. Anyways, why are all of you here?”

“We’re here to see the Breaker,” Tenko piped up, now relieved to be in a much larger group, “Maybe the keys are in there.” 

They all watched with anticipation as Tenko walked past the faded pink counter as she faced the black box on the wall. She opened it, a tight frown on her lips as she stared into it. She looked around the sides, felt on the top and bottom before shutting it.

“Nope. Nothing.” 

“That’s weird. There should be some sort of clue,” Kaede muttered to herself, “There has to be a way to solve this… Did we miss something?”

There was a moment of silence before Rantaro spoke up, “If everyone’s okay with it, I’d say we should go back to the shudder. Maybe there was a clue that we missed.”

Everyone looked at each other, wondering if someone was going to speak up, but when no one said anything they all decided to follow the Adventurer out the store.

Shuichi trailed behind. Suspicious of the class leader’s words,

_ He could be trying to trick us or something… _

As they passed by the Pretzel shop, Shuichi’s eyes widened. The storage door from before was open, and the only thing he could see was the consuming darkness. He could feel his heartbeat race before he looked away and stuck closer to the group.

“What the hell? That’s weird… How did we miss this?” 

Rantaro inspected the locks, finding all the keys already in the locks. He looked back at Maki who started playing her hair in embarrassment,

“I-I guess I missed it… It’s dark in here…” 

As Rantaro sighed and took the first lock in his hands, Maki and Tenko stepped forwards to unlock the other two. As he watched, he felt the bells start to ring in his head. 

“Wa-!”

As soon as the keys were unlocked, the shudder pulled up and the lights cut off.

In the brief second of surprise, he saw white arms shoot up from the dark stairwell and grab Rantaro, Maki, and Tenko before pulling them in. As he turned around to run, he felt someone shove him roughly backwards.

As he fell through the darkness, he stared in horror at the terrified expression on the bloody female head resting on a pure white plastic body.

\---

When they all had landed, they all blocked the bright light from their eyes. 

“Wh-What happened?” Kaito asked, nursing his head, before screaming out loud.

Once they all had regained their senses, they all did the same. All shambling to get closer to one another and away from the dark. Surrounding them and hiding in the darkness were an entire army of headless mannequins. All waiting in anticipation as if ready to pounce at any moment.

“Wh-What the hell are those?” Kokichi yelled, yelping as one swiped at his leg, but stopped once his leg went into the light.

“Those are the incomplete!”

Faint footsteps resounded above them, and they all stared at the staircase to find the one that pushed them down, walking calmly down the staircase. As it got closer, Shuichi saw the real horror up close. 

On top of the white plastic naked body of a female mannequin was the dismembered head of some girl. The manic grin on its face didn’t seem to match the eyes of pure terror that expressed on the girl’s face. Shuichi shuddered as he noticed the blue cap on the girl’s head, the words “Sally’s Pretzels” embroidered on. She circled around the group,

“Have you ever gone to the store and wondered why there are so many mannequins with no heads? Why every display stand is illuminated in spotlights? Well, when night comes and stores close, we come to life and try to emulate the humans we admire so very much. ‘Hi, I’d like to buy things with my credit card!’ ‘These shoes are too small! I want a refund!’ “

As the mannequin laughed with its stolen face, blood started to drip down from its mouth,

“But it scares the humans when we come to life, so they blind us by taking away our heads, bolt our feet to the ground, and drown us in light! But one day, something amazing happened! Hee hee, the lights went out during the middle of the shopping day! And at last, we could walk among the humans! And as everyone was screaming and running in the dark, we discovered something else! If you find a human head, an incomplete mannequin can walk in the light freely! And the ones above ground have granted us heads!”

Shuichi could feel his anxiety spike as he stared at the swarm that surrounded them. 

_ If the lights cut out this exact minute, would I be torn to shreds and be like one of them? _

He almost screamed at the thought of his head resting on one of those mannequins bodies.

“But the ones above said that we can’t kill all of you. They promised that if we do as they say, they’ll steadily send people over so that one day all of us can have heads! So, if you please, can you vote for two people to lose their heads?” 

Shuichi shuddered at how nonchalant the mannequin was as it brought out the deck of cards from nowhere. He clearly didn’t want to lose his head in such a gruesome way, and suddenly the discussion from earlier before seemed desirable. 

“Guys, please don’t vote me in!” Everyone stared at Rantaro who looked desperate, “I-I know I have done a lot of bad things, but I promise I’ll tell you everything if you don’t vote me in! I can still be useful! Just please vote for Kaede and someone else!” 

“Why are you throwing me under the bus?!” Kaede cried as she stared in disbelief at the Adventurer, “Guys, please… I know what I did was unforgivable, but I promise that keeping at least one of us alive will help you guys escape! I haven’t planned to hurt any of you! So please don’t vote me in!”

As the two begged for forgiveness, Shuichi could feel his gut twist. Out of all the cruel doors they’ve been through, this felt like the most horrifying. Even though the two betrayed all of them, he didn’t want the two to die like this. 

_ But I don’t want to die like that either… _

“No matter what you say, it doesn’t matter,” Kokichi’s face was full of spite and hatred, “You two have killed so many already. You guys deserve to suffer like this.”

He looked at the rest of the class, “Don’t look at me like that. If you think it’s cruel, vote yourself in. Keep playing hero for all I care.”

The Supreme Leader walked up to the head mannequin, quickly choosing one of the piles from the deck, before turning around. He stuck out his tongue and his middle finger as he showed everyone the card: [The Ultimate Adventuer] 

As he made his way back to the group, Shuichi could feel Kaede trembling beside him. Thoughts started to rush through his head,

_ Do I go along with everyone and vote for Kaede or Rantaro? Who deserves it more? Do they even deserve a punishment like this? But who would I choose otherwise? I-I don’t know! _

**VOTE BELOW! YOUR DECISION AFFECTS THEIR FATE!**

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> VOTE BELOW:  
> https://linkto.run/p/B5JCNV5H
> 
> Hopefully, you like this chapter because this was based on a childhood trauma when I was playing in a Tilly's and a worker told me that if I didn't stop, they would turn me into one of the mannequins (specifically one that didn't have an upper body).
> 
> Also, sorry for the cliff hanger, but I won't posting next week because it's my birthday week, and I kind of just want to be chill. Hopefully, y'all understand.
> 
> Also let me know what you think of this chapter! I love hearing your comments and your thoughts, and I want to know if I'm the only one terrified of mannequins or if I have to sue Tilly's in the near future! Anyways, it would be a great birthday gift to hear your thoughts because I love to read them!


	26. Chapter 9.5: A Tough Decision to Make

Shuichi shuddered as he approached the darkness. The piles of cards lying messily on the floor. He looked back at the group, seeing Kaede staring despairingly at the darkness ahead, seemingly already knowing what’s going to come. He turned back, taking a deep breath as he reached out for the [The Pianist] card.

The mannequin grabbed his wrist and pulled him forwards. Shuichi yelped as he stumbled halfway out of the light’s safety. He felt plastic hands grab at his ankles before shambling hastily away. He looked fearfully at the head mannequin who picked up the card he pulled out,

“Sorry, I was just playing around…”

The Detective turned, wanting to get as far away from the edge as possible. 

_ Those things are monsters… They’re erratic and creepy. I hope I won’t be the one voted in. _

“Alright, may the drawing begin,” the mannequin announced, shuffling the small deck of 7 cards in its hands. Shuichi held his breath as it drew the first card, “The Ultimate Adventurer.”

He felt an exhale of relief leave his body as he watched Rnataro’s expression. The class representative had a stoic expression on his face as he stood up. Everyone watched as he crossed his left arm over his right, stretching out his biceps, and then switching. A part of Shuichi was amazed at how calm the Adventurer was, it was like he was preparing for a simple race and not a life threatening game.

He turned back to the mannequin who held the cards. It pulled out the final card, “The Ultimate Pianist.”

Shuichi felt something drop in his stomach. The guilt eating him from the inside as he saw the silent tears run down the blonde’s face as she accepted her fate. 

The mannequin carelessly dropped the cards, stepping forward into the light and approaching the group of teens. The only two who didn’t back away were the traitors. Rantaro looked quite unbothered as the killer mannequin slunk around the two, inspecting and observing, while Kaede sat with hitched breath. 

“Wonderful… Wonderful…” he turned back to the crowd within the darkness, “The ones above have given us two fine sacrifices!”

With no heads to yell with, the endless waves of mannequins stamp and clapped with the decaying limbs they had. The sound echoing off the tunnel walls,

“These two will descend into the 3rd and most darkest level of the mall where they will be searching for the single hidden mannequin head. You all are free to hunt them down, but this game of cat and mouse would be no fun without a challenge! There will be small spotlights of safety throughout the level where the humans can safely hide within, but the moment that one of them holds the head in their hands, all of the lights will cut out. No one is allowed to kill the human who holds the head, but the other one is free game.”

The mannequin turned around with a malicious grin on its bloody face, “So are you two ready?”

The two hesitantly nodded before stepping out of the spotlight’s safety. Kaede closed in on herself as the feral mannequins parted for them.

No one said anything as the two walked away. All of them feeling a certain sense of emptiness for the ones who had betrayed them.

\---

Kaede could hear the blood rushing in her ears as she descended through the dark stairway. Even if this was her third time going into a game, the fear of dying consumed her. She could feel her hands trembling as she thought about her head being ripped off her body,

_ But maybe this is what I deserve… I betrayed everyone I cared about. _

She looked to her partner. The fear, dread, and anger were clear on his face as he walked ahead. Kaede could feel something in her flare in anger,

_ After all we’ve been through… _

She remembered the first time they both found themselves in the ruin. She remembered how the Adventurer held her tightly when her card was pulled for the first time,

“Kaede, you’ll make it through. We’ll leave this place together, okay? I swear on it..”

_ And now, because of him, we’re both going to have to turn against each other. Why did it have to be like this? _

Before she could feel the despair settling in, she brought her head up and slapped her cheeks,

_ No, you can’t be thinking that way! I have to keep moving forward if I want to survive! And if I do... I’ll apologize to everyone. _

She felt hope surge through her as she continued to follow the mad mannequin through the dark staircase.

“Oh, before you two start, I thought it would be helpful to give you these, ” the mannequin pressed a flashlight into each of their hands, “These will stop any mannequin in their place if the light is shined on them, but be careful to not run the battery out! Not only that, there’s something else I need to give you.”

A pamphlet was given to each of them. When Kaede opened it, she realized it was a normal map of the mall with every single store listed on the right side. She started to read the list, not recognizing a single one, until she saw a small handwritten note on the bottom:

**NOT RED**

_ Not red… What could that mean? _

She continued to ponder about it until the group came to a stop. It was then that she finally realized that they had finally gotten to the bottom of the stairwell, and was now standing in front of a metal door labelled “B3”

“This is it,” The mannequin grinned, blood spilling out of its stolen face, “Once one of you passes this door, you’ll have 3 minutes to search before the mannequins start looking for you! Don’t forget, the one who finds the head wins!”

The moment that the mannequin stepped aside from the door. Rantaro and Kaede ran out into the mall. 

As soon as Kaede stepped foot, she started to walk around the mall as Rantaro ran right past her. Just like a mall, dark stores were lined up against the walls while the middle was mostly reserved for walking, sitting areas, and tiny booths. 

_ This place is a lot bigger than the floor above us, and it actually looks like a mall. A big, dark, abandoned mall, but a mall nonetheless. But this place is so big! Where do I even start? _

She looked at her map, frowning at the handwritten message.

_ Not Red... Not Red… I need to figure this out before the 3 minutes are up. _

She nervously watched as Rantaro slipped through a store, surprised at how quickly he was to jump into action. She started to break into a jog, trying to look around the mall for any clues. 

As she darted past an advertising board did she see something.

**NOT ‘M’ STORES**

_ Not M stores? Wait what? Hold up… _

She pulled out her map, squinting in the darkness, as she read the text. 

_ McClain’s… Not M… Not any of the M-named stores! Which means…  _

She took a closer look at the map, realizing that every store was colored, each symbolizing the kind of store it was. 

_ Not red! Not the electronics store! I need to find a pen to write this all down! _

As she ran inside the nearest store, a melodic tune rang through the store. 

“The mannequins are now entering the store,” A professional kind female voice said on the intercom, “Have fun hunting!”

Kaede felt her legs go numb as she crouched behind a display table. She peeked out, seeing legs fly by as they ran past the store. She took a deep breathe before quickly darting behind the counter. 

She impulsively looked through the checking counter until she found a round container with a few pens sticking out. As she reached for one, she ended up knocking the entire container over the counter. Kaede ducked underneath the counter as 3 headless mannequins entered the store. They all seemed wobbly on their feet as they aimlessly wandered inside, but the moment that one bumped into a display case or table, it would send it crashing to the ground in a violent manner. 

_ Right! They have no head! They can’t see anything! So if I just stay silent, I should be fine. _

She held her breath as she slid herself out of her hiding place and carefully picked up one of the spilled pens from the floor. She put the map on the counter and started crossing out all of the red and M-named stores, bringing her head up every so often to see if any of the mannequins were getting closer.

_ There are 7 stores that could have the mask. I need to keep searching. _

She hesitated, realizing that one mannequin was somewhat close, standing idly by the exit of the counter. She could still technically pass the mannequin silently, but the chances of getting caught were too high. Kaede shook her head, deciding to hoist herself over the counter and carefully crossing over to the other side.

As soon as she was in the clear, she silently left the store. She held the map out in her hands,

_ The nearest store I could go to is Choerry. There might be another clue there. _

The sound of stomping feet approaching brought her out of her deep state of thinking. Approaching her at an alarming rate was Rantaro leading an army of mannequins behind him. The look of clear panic on his face as he ran for his life. Kaede turned on her heel as she sprinted away. 

She quickly sped into an empty store, throwing herself behind a pillar as she looked out into the hallway. 

_ There’s so many of them…  _

She could feel her heart race as she watched the crowd of mannequin grow even bigger as they all ran after the Adventurer. There were about 30 on his trail, and it seemed that they were getting closer and closer. Kaede watched as Rantaro dodged one feral mannequin that lunged out from an empty store, and she could see that he was increasingly getting more exhausted. It was then that a flash of light appeared 5 yards away from him, and he collapsed within the safety of its light.

Kaede let out the breath she didn’t even know she was holding. A part of her wished that he was caught and ripped to shreds, but another part of her throbbed in pain. She had trusted him to watch her back, but he had willingly sacrificed her when it was convenient. She ignored the tears coming on as she looked around the store, realizing that she had found herself in a cell phone shop, before exiting quietly. As she sneaked around the mall, she found herself getting sentimental.

_ Why do we have to do this? There has to be some other way... _

She immediately thought about the panicked form of Kaito as he held an unconscious Shuichi,

_ Maybe there’s a loophole we can find, but is Rantaro willing to find it with me? _

She found herself in front of the purple entrance, the battered words of “Choerry” was written overhead. Kaede found herself getting cold as she saw the mess the store was in.

_ I guess they were here before me… _

She stepped inside of the store, looking around to see if there was a lone head hidden anywhere. She soon found herself standing in front of a white booth with a tattered curtain pulled in front of it,

_ Maybe it’s in the changing room. _

As she reached forward to grab the purple shimmery curtain, something jumped out, knocking the Pianist to the ground. She yelped in pain as the mannequin clawed her face and pulled her hair,

“No! Stop! Stop!”

She reached into her pocket, feeling something cold and metal to the touch, before whipping it out and smacking it against the plastic torse. She breathed heavily as she scrambled to her feet, trying to get desperately away from the crawling mannequin. She quickly switched it on, shining its light onto the plastic body, and watched as it stiffened up in a grotesque position.

She wiped the blood from her forehead as she sidestepped the mannequin, careful to keep the light on its white skin. She pulled the purple curtain aside as she looked inside the booth,

_ No head… But what’s this? _

She read the words scribbled on the wall, 

**NOT CLOTHING STORES**

She groaned in frustration as she gripped her throbbing head. She turned, angrily stomping on the mannequin’s chest and caving in the plastic, before turning around to exit the store. As she left, she could see the mannequin twitch and spasm in place.

She looked at her map,

_ The head wasn’t there, but it wasn’t for nothing. There’s only one place that doesn’t fit any of the requirements. Barlow’s Furnishing Store… That’s on the other side of the mall… I have to get there quick. Rantaro might already be there. _

She broke out in a quiet jog, heading towards the left side of the mall. She soon found herself kneeling behind a large pot as she looked at a group of 5 mannequins blocking her way. She looked around her, finding a discarded shoe. She picked it up before lodging it into an empty store. As the group ran into the store, Kaede silently continued on her way, hoping that her prize would be there.

\---

Kaede stood in front of the furnishing store. The color draining from her face as she saw the large exterior of the store.

_ This isn’t just a store. It’s like a department store! This place is huge! _

Kaede could feel something drop in her stomach. Looking into the dark department store almost felt like entering the mouth of a beast. 

_ This is it,  _ Kaede thought,  _ This is the moment I lose my life or I lose the one who has been by my side the entire time… _

She hesitantly stepped inside, finding herself surrounded by unlit lamps. As she searched, she could see the hazy white figures of wandering mannequins, and every moment or so she would hear one bump into a dresser and send it crashing to the ground. 

She soon found herself walking deeper into the department store, and that the deeper she went, the more mannequins appeared. She hoped it was a bittersweet sign that she was getting closer. 

She stopped in her tracks. Her heart almost stopped as she stared at the white plastic head resting at the very top of what seemed to be a very unbalanced pyramid made out of furniture. Not only was it on a large display platform, queen sized beds made up the base as large dressers and bookshelves of all shapes and sizes were stacked on top of that. Her mouth gaped open as she realized that there were small trinkets everywhere on the pyramid, and that if one were to fall it would create a noise and would attract all of the mannequins.

_ How… How do I climb that? _

She climbed onto the platform and started walking around it, hoping to find some easy path when she saw a familiar tuft of green hair poking out from the other side. She stared deep into Rantaro’s eyes as he stared back with the same surprised expression. He quickly turned away to start climbing.

“Rantaro!” Kaede whispered-yelled as she pulled down on his shirt, “Please stop!”

“I’m not going to stop what I’m doing,” Rantaro whispered-yelled back, timidly looking around to see if anything noticed, “You know how badly I need to get back.”

Kaede stepped back, surprised to see the pleading desperation in his face. She could see the exhaustion and pain behind his eyes. He was just as tired as she was as months and months of betrayal resonated from him, and her heart ached for him. 

“Rantaro, we both know that there is a way for two people to come back from a game. If we find that loophole, we can get out together!” 

“And what if there isn't? That’s a possibility too!” 

“We won’t know unless we try!”

Rantaro remained silent as Kaede desperately hoped that he would accept her proposal, but at the same time, she could hear the bells ringing in her head. She couldn’t bring herself to hate him, but she also couldn’t trust him. 

_ He could easily throw me away again at the next moment of danger. Is this really the right choice of working together with him? _

[Kaede has a window of opportunity! Does she take it and use this sentimental moment to grab the head? Or should she work together with the same person who betrayed her before?]

>Betray Rantaro

>Work together with Rantaro 

**YOUR DECISION GREATLY AFFECTS THE ENDING OF THIS STORY! BE CAREFUL ON WHAT YOU CHOOSE!**

**[20 8 5 9 14 22 9 20 1 20 9 15 14 3 15 13 13 5 14 20 19]**

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> VOTE BELOW:  
> https://linkto.run/p/V1VTORYJ
> 
> [THIS DECISION AFFECTS THE ENDING]
> 
> Thank you guys for the birthday wishes! They were so nice to read! Also we nearing the end! There should be two more games after this before it is all over! I personally want to know what you guys think about this chapter and what you think Kaede should do? 
> 
> I'm personally really conflicted, and I'm nervous about what's to come, but I believe in all of you. The fate is in your hands!


	27. Chapter 9.7: A Divide Within

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hey, congrats to everyone who figured out the clue and found [Rantaro's Choice]!
> 
> For those who couldn't figure it out, you had to convert the numbers into letters that spells: [The Invitation. Comments]. The first chapter of this fanfic is titled, "The Invitation" and if you looked at the comment section you would find the second poll and Rantaro's choice!
> 
> Not only that, you folks were conflicted this week! It was 50/50 until one lucky voter tipped the scale! Hey, lucky last voter, are you proud of your decision? Do you regret it?

Kaede stared deep into Rantaro’s hardened expression, unsure of what was running through the other teens head, as she gripped onto his shirt.

_ For all I know, he could be thinking of ways to hurt me. He’s done it before, but even so I-I _

**Kaede decided to [Work together with Rantaro]**

_ I can’t bring myself to do the same. _

“Rantaro, I-I don’t want to fight with you,” Kaede choked, “Didn’t you promise that we would leave this place together? What happened to that?”

She stared desperately into his eyes, hoping to find any solace that he had the hope of working together, but he turned away hiding his face from her.

“That was a promise I made a long time ago...”

Kaede’s heart dropped to her stomach as the Adventurer shrugged off her tight grasp. Alarm bells started to ring as he started to take a step back, and with a sigh, raced forwards towards the daunting tower. One foot landed perfectly on top of a dresser shelf knob as he quickly hoisted himself over the mounds of furniture, knocking over a golden incense burner in the process. 

It was like time slowed down as she watched it fall in midair, shattering completely as it hit the ground. In that one moment, the surrounding mannequins surrounded the podium and recklessly threw themselves onto it. The Pianist could only back herself into the pyramid as she watched helplessly as the swarm of killer mannequins get closer and closer.

_ This is it. If I just stay here, Rantaro will have enough time to grab the head. I-I can live with that… _

She closed her eyes as plastic hands reached towards her face. She only prayed that it would be painless.

**Rantaro decided to [Work together with Kaede]**

A bright flash of light shined down upon the Pianist, plastic hands going rigid in its light. Kaede looked up to find Rantaro grasping the ledge with the head tucked underneath his arm as he held the flashlight with his other arm.

“Kaede!” he yelled, dropping down from the mountain, “Turn on your flashlight!”

She quickly palmed the metal flashlight in her hand, stumbling with the buttons before flashing its bright light onto the sea of mannequins. She felt someone pull on her arm.

“C’mon, we have to go now.” Rantaro said, taking Kaede’s hand before running abruptly.

The two ran through the department store, shining their lights on any mannequin standing in their way as an ever growing swarm of mannequins followed behind them. 

“We need to make it back to the door where we came from!” Kaede yelled, “But we have to hurry because my battery is running out!”

Kaede’s flashlight started to flicker as they raced down the mall before dying almost immediately. She cursed out loud before turning the flashlight around in her hand. She looked forward to spot a mannequin running straight towards them. Without hesitation, she ran past Rantaro before slamming the heavy metal flashlight into the white plastic stomach. The two ran forward as it crumbled to the ground lifelessly.

“Shit, remind me not to get on your bad side.” Rantaro said, gracefully dodging a mannequin,

“Already too late for that,” Kaede huffed, “Just be glad that I would never bash in the skull of an actual human being.”

The two continued to run through the mall, seeming to catch the attention of almost every single mannequin. As terrified as Kaede was of having over a hundred deadly mannequins chase after them, something within her was bustling with joy as she stared at the back of Rantaro’s head. The feeling doubled as she saw the familiar metal door,

“There! We’re almost there!”

“Get in front of me,” Rantaro said, slowing down just a bit, “Just in case, the door closes the moment I enter.”

Kaede nodded as she reached the metal handle, swinging the door open, and pulling Rantaro quickly inside. The two backed away from the door as sounds of the angry pounding echoed in the dark hallway. It wasn’t until the pounding stopped that Kaede felt like she could breathe again,

“Oh my god… I can’t believe it,” tears started to fill in her eyes as she hugged herself, “We’re both still alive…”

“Yeah, I-I didn’t expect that…” Rantaro responded, wiping away the sweat from his forehead, “But now, we have a different problem.”

Kaede looked up, worriedly, “What? What else could there be?”

“The others. If they see us both alive, they’re just going to vote us in again. We still have one more room to clear before it’s our turn, and I don’t know if we can be this lucky again. Kaede, we need to start working together to ensure our survival.”

The terrifyingly serious expression returned to his face, but as Kaede stared into his hardened eyes, she could see the hints of concern and guilt resting inside.

“Rantaro, they’re still our friends… We can’t do that to them.”

“Kaede, please…” the Adventurer sat right next to her, his hard exterior starting to crack as desperation sounded in his voice, “You know what happens in the end. You, out of all people, should know why we all can’t work together. Just please, Kaede… You’re the only person I could trust.”

Kaede stared numbly at her hands as she thought about her friends.

_ Maki… Tenko… Shuichi… You’re all going to hate me after this, but you don’t know what’s to come. Perhaps you’ll realize that the dead are better off… _

“Okay…” was the only thing Kaede could say before she stood up and wiped the tears and snot away, “The others are probably expecting us. We should get going.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> No vote this week, but I figured it would be nice to drop the 4 possibilities of what could've happened. Just to note, each ending affects how many people escape in the end.
> 
> 1) Kaede Betrayed + Rantaro Work Together --> Rantaro survives  
> 2) Kaede Work Together + Rantaro Betrayed --> Kaede survives  
> 3) Kaede Work Together + Rantaro Work Together --> Both survive (WINNER)  
> 4) Kaede Betrayed + Rantaro Betrayed --> Both die
> 
> Tell me what you guys think of this chapter and your predictions for the ending! I honestly love hearing your thoughts, and to be honest, sometimes your comments change the writing process. I'd also love to know which ending did you want to happen!


	28. Chapter 10.0: The Doll House

Shuichi rubbed his knuckles as he looked back at the dim stairwell. He couldn’t stop imagining a pale white plastic body appearing from it, flaunting off its newly decapitated head, as he stared at the terrified expression of the Pianist’s last moments. 

_ No. Stop that. It’s pointless to think about such depressing things.  _

He turned around hoping to find something to distract himself from his own thoughts. Maki and Kaito were sitting together by the ascending staircase. The Assassin’s head rested on Kaito’s shoulder as she rubbed his thumb. Tenko seemed to have finally stopped crying as she stared tiredly at the ground, and Kokichi just stared straight up at the spotlight that was shining down on them. 

_ No one looks like they want to talk…  _ Shuichi thought, turning back around to see the mouth of the stairwell,  _ But what’s going to happen after this? There’s still two more rooms left… _

He figured that whoever comes out of the stairwell will only be voted for the next game. Their short lived victory ending as they get thrown into another death game.

_ But I wonder what Kaede meant by, “you need at least one of us alive to escape”. Is getting the 11 keys not enough? Is there another condition we have to meet? Also how are those two even related to this game? I don’t remember either of them being interested in the occult, and they seem just as trapped as us. What exactly happened to you two to get roped into this mess? _

The sound of footsteps brought him out of his thoughts. Everyone was alerted as they all waited for the victor to step out of the stairwell. Shuichi’s heart pounded as a familiar blonde ahoge appeared from the staircase. 

_ Oh thank God… _

As Kaede stepped onto the final step did Shuichi finally feel like he could breathe. Her head was rightly attached to her body, and there was no sign of plastic anywhere, but she wasn’t completely okay. In the faint light, Shuichi saw the bleeding scratches on her neck and face. Her tattered clothes showed that there was a struggle as she gripped onto a metal flashlight. The look in her eyes was filled with an empty kind of sadness.

Instead of walking straight up to the group, she stood there. Staring idly at the floor as if waiting for something. Shuichi could feel his heart beat faster as the faint sounds of footsteps approached closer.

“Hey,” Rantaro waved, a small friendly smile on his face, “Aren’t you happy to see us?”

“Wait what?!” Kaito stepped forward, “How the hell are you both still alive?”

“Isn’t that obvious?” Kokichi stated, “They found a loophole. Just like Shuichi and you did…” 

Shuichi stood there, staring at the traitors in front of him. A part of him was relieved to see the two alive, yet another part of him wanted to push the green-haired boy down the stairs. 

“Anyways, there’s no point of standing here,” Rantaro said, the nonchalant attitude making the ends of Shuichi’s hair stand on end, “We found the key on our way here, so we should get a move on.”

And just like that, the two traitors walked past the group of teenagers, and disappeared into the darkness of the next stairwell. 

“They’re both still alive…” Tenko whispered, a small disbelieving smile on her face, “Ha ha... The one moment that we want someone dead, they both show up alive…”

“I can’t believe it…” Kaito said angrily as he punched the wall, “They have to have cheated or something!” 

The despair rested heavily on the group. No one sure what to expect in the next round, and what the two had planned for them.

“Neeheehee, this is great!” Kokichi beamed, 

“What are you talking about?” Maki spat, “Out of everyone here, you wanted them dead the most. What’s with the sudden switch?”

“Oh, I still want them dead,” the Supreme Leader got serious all of a sudden, “But their survival means that we all have a higher chance of surviving another round, but I do kind of wish that they died down there… It was a perfect punishment for trash like them…”

“Wait, what do you mean?” Kaito questioned, thinking about how the logic made sense,

“I think what Kokichi means is that we vote exactly the same way we voted for this round,” Shuichi responded, thinking hard about what the Supreme Leader said, “Every single game, we vote for 2 people. If only one came back then we would have to vote for someone here. Is that what you were trying to say Kokichi?”

“Yup! My Shumai always seems to know exactly what’s in my head!” Kokichi praised, “As long as we pit those two against each other again, we only have to worry about voting for one person in the last game!”

“I guess that’s it,” Maki turned towards the stairs as everyone else joined her, “We all vote for them again in the next round.”

As the group walked up the staircase, Shuichi felt guilt bubbling in his stomach.

_ To talk so casually about sacrificing our classmates… In the end, only 5 of us will make it out, but why do I feel like it’s not going to be that easy? _

He wished he could say that he shrugged off the feeling, but it continued to linger on as he walked through the darkness.

\---

When the entire group had entered the ruin, Kaede and Rantaro were nowhere in sight.

“Where did they go?” Tenko asked, looking around the small space,

“I think they moved on without us. The next room is already open.” Maki said, pointing at the stone door with the doll on it.

“We’re going to be facing a doll next?” Kokichi asked, “I hope we don’t run into evil Barbie or something…” 

“Really jumping from one form of plastic to another…” Kaito joked to Maki who only rolled her eyes,

“That dumb bitch would’ve loved it…” Kokichi whispered as the entire group walked in.

\---

When Shuichi entered the room, a soft melodic tune played. Compared to the hellish dirty tunnel they were in before. This was almost like heaven or taken straight from a vintage furniture catalogue.

Weirdly enough, it had reminded him of his grandmother’s home in Britain. A pink paradise trapped in the 40’s. Sweet vintage pictures of fluffy cats and fruit bowls glistened under the bright light of the crystal chandelier as they rested on a floral pink wallpaper. As they all went deeper into the room, they found the traitors resting on the pink loveseat, talking in hushed tones.

“-too dangerous,” Rantaro whispered, “We need to use ‘those’ in the next round.”

“Okay, I under-” Kaede stood up as she saw everyone enter. She looked away as she tucked a piece of hair under her ear, “Hi guys. We figured we wouldn’t start without you.”

“How sweet…” the Supreme Leader rolled his eyes, “Let’s just get this over with.”

“Oh, there’s a door over there!” Kaito said, running over to the white painted door, jostling the handle, “And of course, it’s fucking locked.”

“I guess we have to find a key.” Maki stated before going to examine the portraits on the walls.

Shuichi sighed before realizing that there was a small bowl of candies near the loveseats. As he started to walk over, he felt someone pull him down.

He turned around to find himself staring straight into deep purple eyes as a tight grip wrapped around his wrists,

“You shouldn’t get near those two.” Kokichi whispered, as he stared cautiously at the traitorous duo searching the couches,

“Wait why? I’m just going to search that bowl.”

“Did you not hear what they just said? They have something under their sleeves,” Kokichi hissed, “They could be planning to kill someone here…”

Shuichi’s heart dropped at the thought, 

“I don’t know… Isn’t that against the rules?”

“Who knows? The traitors might have special privileges or something. It could be why they survived this far…” 

Shuichi found himself getting dizzy. He didn’t want to believe it, but he found himself believing the liar’s words. He saw his own reflection in those deep purple irises, it did nothing but reflected the fear that he felt. Flashbacks of the Bomb room ran through his head.

_ Why me? Why is he always looking out for me? _

“Wait, why are you telling me this?” Shuichi asked out loud, “Why do you care about me so mu-?”

Shuichi was caught off guard as soft hands back handed him to the ground. The Detective flung backwards cradling his red cheek as the Supreme Leader held his face in his hands in gleeful embarrassment.

“Shumai! You can’t say that to me! We’re in public!” he squealed. As everyone stared at the pair in disbelief did the teen drop his cute act, “What? Can’t two guys just talk without being judged?”

“Jeez, get a goddamn room…” Kaito whispered under his breath as he turned back to examining the door. Everyone else decided to not question it and focus on their tasks.

Shuichi grimaced as Kokichi blew a kiss before skipping over to check the candy bowl. The Detective rubbed his sore cheek as he got up. 

_ I guess I have to look for the key… _

He looked around the room, trying to find something that no one has looked at yet. It was then that the sweet melody led him to the music box that was in the corner of the room. He walked over it, picking up the wooden music box in his hands, finding comfort in the beautiful art that was adorned on the front of the box.

He pulled it up to his ear, recognizing the tune but not really able to put his finger on it. All he knew that it reminded him of Christmas for some odd reason. He pulled the lid up, discovering the tiny key within.

_ Jesus Christ, I can’t believe it was that easy… _

“Guys, I found the-!”

“Please help me!” a female voice resounded around the room. Kaito screamed in horror, trying to find the source of the voice.

“Please help me…” she sobbed, “My eyes… My eyes…”

“Wh-What happened to your eyes?” Tenko asked, 

“They were taken! They were taken by that terrible Doll Maker! You must find them!” she cried over the sweet melody of the box. 

“Where are your eyes?” Maki questioned,

“They’re in the Doll Maker’s collection! You must find my eyes and place them in my box! I won’t be able to leave without my eyes!”

“The Doll Maker’s collection?” Rantaro questioned, “I think that might be in the next room. Shuichi?”

The Detective silently nodded as he went to the door. Slowly inserting it in the hole before hearing the soft click of the lock opening. They all held their breath as they walked in.

The first thing that it popped in Shuichi’s head as he entered the room was how much it reminded him of a museum. Straight ahead of them was a dark walkway illuminated by dim lights. On the sides of the walkway were blocked with glass panes, obvious that it was meant to be looked at but not to be touched. As the Detective continued to walk in did he see the glimpse of what was behind the glass.

“What the-”

He approached the glass. In front of him was a frozen scene of a girl around his age tending delicately to an orchid as she sat in a traditional Japanese room. Shuichi stared in wonder at how beautiful the girl was as long black silky hair draped over her porcelain skin and the tender smile on her face. 

He turned around to find the entire class looking at the rest of the displays. On the other side of him was another scene was of an older redhead woman standing in front of a red racecar. She looked confident as she held a black helmet in one arm and a golden trophy held above her head. The one thing that struck Shuichi odd was that instead of eyes, deep red garnets were placed there instead, but he quickly shrugged it off. Shuichi found Kaito staring quite intently at the woman, almost hypnotized by the revealing outfit she sported.

“Hey Kaito, you should probably move on before Maki catches you.” 

The Astronaut jumped at the sudden appearance, a bright red blush over his face,

“Oh hey dude! Didn’t know you were there! But I was just looking at the car. It’s… Really cool…”

He chuckled a bit before embarrassingly moving onto the next display. Shuichi did the same as he moved down the hallway. 

On the left side was of a majestic view of a magical pink-haired fairy sitting on a rock as fake furry animals surrounded her. Shuichi looked closer, realizing that she also had the same odd tick about her like the last, instead shiny diamonds took place of her eyes.

_ I guess it might be an artist mark or something… _

He moved onto the right side. Shuichi stared in wonder as the display was of an elegant white haired ballerina. Out of all the rest of the displays, this was the most expensive looking as the dress and surroundings seemed to glitter in the light. He noted that this one blue sapphires for eyes.

He moved down to find Tenko looking at the last display. Knowing better than to get close, he decided to look behind her. The scene was of a maid with pigtails cleaning up the house, looking quite happy as she swept the floors. Her eyes were two beautiful shimmery emeralds. Kaede turned around, about to move to the next display, before smacking face first into him.

“Ahh! Shuichi!” she said, a bit startled, “I’m so sorry! I didn’t know you were behind me!”

“Oh, that’s okay.” Shuichi stammered. It had felt like an eternity since he talked with the Aikido Master, “So… What do you think about all of this?”

“They’re kind of creepy...” Tenko chuckled awkwardly, “They’re like dolls. Beautiful girls trapped in a fantasy world. It’s a little too real for me…”

“Yeah, you’re completely right,” Shuichi laughed, “And I have no idea what’s going on with their eyes either.”

“Oh yeah, I’m pretty sure that’s just a part of the puzzle or something…” 

“Wait, what do you mean?”

“Oh, you didn’t notice?” Tenko pointed at a small iron plate at the bottom of the glass. Shuichi read the word ‘May’, “Each of the girls have a name. The Japanese one is November, the Race Car Girl is January, the Fairy is April, and the Ballerina is September. Each of their gemstones correlated to the birthstone of their month.”

“Oh, I didn’t even know about that.” Shuichi stated, a little taken aback at the new information,

“Yeah, I used to talk a lot about this with Himiko,” the Aikido Master smiled, “You know that blue gem that she wears in her hair? It’s a blue topaz since her birthday is in December. She believed that she gets +7 luck from wearing it…”

Small droplets of tears started to form in her eyes as she wiped them quickly away. She quickly turned around and started walking in the opposite direction towards the door.

“I-I’m just going to go see the others. Bye.”

Before he could say anything, she quickly walked away, too embarrassed to show him her true feelings. 

_ I guess she’s been feeling lonely this entire time. After all, all of her friends are dead… _

He caught Kaede staring at the tearful girl as she walked by. Her face riddled with concern and guilt. It looked like she really wanted to follow the Aikido Master and comfort her, but the stern glare of the Adventurer stopped her in her tracks. Instead, she turned back to stare at the Race Car display. 

Shuichi sighed as he turned his head, noticing that Kaito and Maki was in a deep conversation. He walked over to be a part of the conversation.

“Oh hey, man!” Kaito greeted, “Maki roll and I are trying to figure where the eyes might be.”

“She said that it’s in the collection, so it has to be in one of these displays,” Maki added,“But there’s no clue telling us which one it is…”

Shuichi tapped his finger to his chin, “Maybe it’s in the previous room? We could go check it out.”

The couple nodded as they all made their way to the previous room. Once inside, they found Tenko already looking through a pile of vintage magazines, her eyes red and puffy from crying not too long ago,

“Hi Tenko,” Maki said softly, “Did you find something?”

She shook her head, “Not yet, but I still have 5 magazines to look through. Do you want to help?”

Maki took one of the magazines from the white coffee table before sitting right next to her. The two never really interacted with each other much, but Tenko felt comfort in the Assassin’s presence.

“Well, if the girls are going to go look through the magazines that means that we can work together!” Kaito gleamed, “So where do we start, sidekick?”

“I guess we could start with the music box. I mean, that girl didn’t start talking until we opened it.” 

The two walked over to the corner where the music box was. Kaito picked it up in his hands, examining the exterior of the box.

“Nope. Nothing important on the box,” he reached to open the lid before stopping abruptly, “Do you think she’s going to start screaming again if we open it?”

“I-I don’t know. I hope not…”

Kaito cautiously creaked open the lid before letting out a sigh of relief when no screaming was heard. They looked inside, finding nothing but a black velvet interior. 

“Well that wasn’t it,” Kaito groaned, “I swear this one doesn’t make any sense! At least the others were self explanatory!”

As Kaito ranted on, Shuichi went into the depths of his mind,

_ Kaito’s right. This room doesn’t give us anything to work with. Are we missing something or did we already have everything from the start? _

He turned back to the music box, listening to the soft melody. Something within him clicked. He quickly grabbed onto Kaito’s wrist.

“We need to talk to Kaede.”

The Astronaut reeled back, surprised at the Detective’s sudden boldness, “Wait what? Why?”

“That girl… She spoke to us through the music box! Maybe the music is the key to figuring which girl it is! Who would know music better than Kaede?”

“Yeah, you’re right!” Kaito yelled, “I’ll come with you and we can ask her together!” 

The two walked through the door, finding Kaede and Rantaro examining the bottom right corner of the Traditional Japanese display. On the other side of the room, Kokichi rolled his eyes as he saw Shuichi approach the Pianist.

“Hey, uh Kaede? Is it okay if I borrow you real quick?” 

The Pianist slowly stood up, “Uh, sure. What for?”

“I just wanted to know if you recognized the song from the music box.”

“Oh, okay. I just need to hear it one more time.”

As the three walked away, Shuichi turned around to find both Rantaro and Kokichi glaring at him. He quickly went through the door, escaping from their deadly gaze. 

The three stood in front of the music box. Both of the boys watched as Kaede silently listened to the song with her eyes closed. A bright smile appeared on her face as she opened her eyes,

“This is Tchaikovsky’s  _ Waltz of the Flowers _ ! I played this for my sister’s recital!”

“Waltz of the Flowers?” Kaito said out loud, “That should mean it’s the Fairy right?”

“I’m not sure about that…” Shuichi stated, “If I’m correct, that’s from  _ The Nutcracker _ which is ballet, right?”

“Yeah, that’s right.” Kaede agreed, “My sister took ballet when we were younger. That would mean that September is the one we’re looking for.”

The three immediately beamed at the realization. Shuichi and Kaede quickly dashed into the other room as Kaito called for the other two girls to join them.

“It’s the Ballerina!” Kaede yelled as she entered the room, “We need to get the Ballerina’s eyes!”

Everyone in the room soon gathered around the glittering girl.

“Okay, that’s great, but how do we get in?” Kokichi asked,

“Kaede and I found out that each of the displays have a lock on the side,” Rantaro stated, “But it’s kind of weird because it’s shaped like a circle. Almost like you put a needle through it.”

“Sorry we’re late!” Tenko yelled, pushing through the door as she held a small stack of magazines, as Maki and Kaito burst through holding magazines as well “Maki and I found something!”

They all dumped the magazines on the floor. 

“It seems it’s a monthly subscription of magazines,” Maki stated, “The magazines are released each month. They probably have to do something with the girls. What’s the month?”

“September.” Kaede answered

“Oh, right here.”

Maki pulled out a magazine from the pile on the ground. On the front of the cover was a blonde woman wearing a red trench coat. She looked happy as she presented the new fall fashion as she walked through the autumn leaves. 

“Did you find something like a needle or circular in the magazine?” Rantaro asked,

The two girls shook their heads. 

“Great, so we still can’t open it,” Kokichi groaned, “That was some help…”

As Maki glared at the Supreme Leader, everyone took turns looking through the magazine. When it got to Kaito, he looked at the cover, taking an excruciating time to examine it.

“Oh! I got it!” Kaito exclaimed, “I knew the cat looked familiar! It’s the same cat from the paintings in the other room!” 

They all rushed to the next room, finding the portrait that the Astronaut was talking about, and true to his word the same tabby was sitting proudly next to a bowl of bananas. Kaito examined the portrait closely.

“Can you see the key?” Shuichi asked,

“No, but maybe it's on the back,” He took the portrait off the wall, flipping it over in his hands. He sighed as he disappointingly put it on the ground, “It’s not there either.”

A wave of defeat ran through the group as everyone thought hard of where the key might be. Shuichi watched as Kokichi stared at the empty space of the wall where the portrait had been before quickly running up to it and grabbing something. The moment he got down, he showed everyone what was in his hand.

“Guys, it was the nail that was holding the picture frame!” Kokichi laughed, “Neeheehee, I can’t believe how slow you all are!”

They all ignored the Supreme Leader as they walked back into the Display room. As soon as he inserted the nail into the lock, he quickly put his hands on the ledge before lifting up. Everyone watched as the glass disappeared into the ceiling, and the room was open. 

Everyone slowly trickled in the room. Finding themselves a little bit uncomfortable with trespassing an area that used to be blocked off. The only one who seemed unbothered was Kokichi as he had a long history of breaking into places he wasn’t supposed to be.

“Let me handle this,” he said with a smug grin, “I’ve handled gems a little bit in my life.”

“That’s cause you stole them…” Shuichi whispered under his breath.

Everyone watched as the Supreme Leader slowly reached for the girl’s eyes. The Detective could feel himself stiffen up at the sight. It was kind of creepy thinking that they had to take it straight from the doll’s face. 

As he stared at the doll more, the more he felt the room got cold. He couldn’t stop looking at how oddly waxy and realistic the doll looked. He stepped closer, finding bluish grey lips underneath a smear of pink lipstick. He felt a cold chill run down his back as he watched as Kokichi touched the shiny surface of the blue sapphire. 

“Wow, this is tougher than I expected,” Kokichi said, furrowing his brows together, “I need to really grab onto it.”

The Detective watched in horror as the Supreme Leader dug his fingers deeper into the girl’s eye sockets before completely ripping the gem out from the body. As soon as he did, everyone screamed as blood trickled down the ballerina’s face. 

Kokichi stared in shock at the bloody gem in his hand before slowly breathing heavily. He soon dug his fingers into the right eye socket before ripping out the blue gem from the skull. The Supreme Leader quickly turned from the bleeding corpse before dashing out the door. 

Everyone watched in confusion and shock as they stood in the display room before suddenly the doll jolted in its spot. Everyone backed away from the girl as she was suddenly lifted into the ceiling. The only thing left in her spot was a small puddle of blood.

“Wh-What just happened?” Kaito asked, clinging onto Maki,

“We solved the puzzle, silly!” Everyone jumped at the sound of the door closing shut. Kokichi entered the room with a big grin, “I can’t believe you all got scared by that! What a bunch of losers!” 

“You looked like you were the most freaked out.” Maki said, “You ran out of the room as soon as you had the gems.”

“I ran out of the room because they were getting my hands dirty,” Kokichi grimaced, “But see! My hands are all clean now!”

He raised his palms, showing everyone the smeared stain of wiped off blood. Shuichi felt nauseous just looking at it.

“Well, that’s it then,” Rantaro said, “We should lea-”

As soon as they were about to leave the Ballet display, the glass wall dropped down in front of them. They all rushed to the front, slamming their fists against the strong glass.

“You ruined everything!” A loud male voice rang through the room. They all turned around hoping to find the source of the disembodied voice, “My dear beloved September has escaped because of you! My collection is now ruined! Do you know how hard it was to get a collectible like her!”

They all had their backs pressed to the wall. All of them knew what was to come.

“She was my star! Her eyes were the most beautiful in this entire collection! And she’s gone! All of you must pay for what you’ve done! I won’t let a single one of you go until I get a new doll!”

Suddenly a table and a box dropped down from the ceiling. They all watched as the deck of cards fluttered down into 7 perfect piles.

“You all must vote in for two people to go play my little game, and whoever loses will become my newest addition!”

They all sat with bated breath, expecting the rant to continue, but when they were met with silence, they found themselves still tense. 

_ This is it. It’s voting time… _

“Is it okay if I make a suggestion?” Everyone turned to the Supreme Leader, “We basically already know who’s going to vote for who, so might as well make it public. Before you turn in your vote, let’s all show the card we’re putting in that way we don’t have any more traitors in our group. I’ll go first.”

He walked up to the box, quickly picking up a card before holding it up for everyone to see. The face of Rantaro Amami stared back at the group before he slipped the card in the slit of the box. 

Soon afterwards, Tenko rushed up. She too showed everyone an [Adventurer’s] card before slipping it in the box.

“I guess that means that we’re voting for Kaede…” Kaito said, his voice slightly wavering as he gripped onto Maki’s hand.

The two went up to the table together. They both looked sad as they held up the [Pianist] card before slipping it into the box. They quickly went back to their spots unable to see the pained expression on the girl’s face. 

Just as Shuichi stood up, he was soon cut off by Rantaro and Kaede making their way together to the box.

“If that’s how you want to play fine,” Rantaro said spitefully as Kaede glared angrily at the group. He looked up to the ceiling before yelling, “As Keepers of this ruin, we use our [Benefits] to have one extra vote!”

A bright white flame erupted from their arms, taking the shape of a card, before disappearing into the air. Shuichi could feel sweat trickle down from his forehead as he stared at the 4 cards in their hands.

“With this, the voting will be fair. If you hadn’t pushed us this far, we wouldn’t have used it, but we’re going to be the ones going home!”

“Why?” Kaito yelled, “Why are you doing this?”

“We-we don’t want to do this either,” Kaede said, her voice wavering with anger, “But we want to go home too! We don’t want to die here too! That’s why… I’m voting for you twice, Maki.”

The Assassin couldn’t even look angrily at the other girl. She only turned her head away, wringing her hands in her lap.

“And Kokichi, you’ve been targeting us ever since you found out,” Rantaro said, “If I knew that you would find out early on in the game, I should’ve killed you from the start.”

Kokichi only laughed, “Be careful there, Onii-chan! Your humble big brother facade is breaking!” His face suddenly became serious, “And don’t forget. We still have Shuichi’s vote left. He’ll be the one to tip the scales.”

Everyone turned to the Detective. Their eyes all desperately wanting him to do the right thing. He felt himself grow dizzy under their intense stares as he slowly approached the table.

_ Everyone is depending on me! Do I vote for Rantaro or Kaede and get one out of the way, or should I help them by voting for someone else! No! That’s ridiculous! Why would I do that? What do I do? What do I do? _

**Beware! Your vote may (potentially) change the ending! VOTE BELOW**

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> VOTE BELOW:  
> https://linkto.run/p/KLHH6S3B
> 
> Omg, I feel like I just wrote a Jojo scene... So imagine that last scene, but Jojo. Anyways, that was a long chapter, but I really hope that you guys like it.
> 
> Let me know what you think about this chapter, who you voted for, and your predictions for the next one! This time I'm leaving everything to chance, so I am just as afraid as all of you. Also I'll be writing this chapter early, so try to get them in before Friday!
> 
> Hope y'all have a wonderful day


	29. Chapter 10.5: The Doll Race

Shuichi stared emotionlessly at the cards in front of him.

_ The decision should be obvious… _

He reached out to take [The Adventurer] card. He turned around to show everyone receiving a terrifying glare from the Adventurer himself. He quickly dropped the card in the box before walking to stand next to Maki and Kaito. 

The table and box soon dropped into the ground, and the Doll Maker’s voice rang from beyond the ceiling.

“Be prepared. One of you will soon be part of my newest collection!” 

Everyone was quiet as they waited. Shuichi looked over to the side to see Kaito whispering quietly to himself with shut eyes.

“Please not her. Please not her. Please not her. Plea-”

He looked over to find Maki’s eyes closed, breathing deeply, almost as if she was preparing herself for the upcoming conflict.

Tenko and Kokichi both seemed to stare at random parts of the room, taking in the glittery scenery of the ballet display. Shuichi didn’t understand how Kokichi could be so calm right now as Tenko looked like all she wanted to do was sleep.

Kaede and Rantaro seemed the most tense in the room. Both fidgeting to get their mind off something else as Rantaro twisted one of the many rings on his finger while Kaede rubbed her hands together. 

The Detective closed his eyes before resting his head alongside the wall. It was disturbing how peaceful he felt.

_ How am I so calm? One of my friends is going to die again… I can’t believe how selfish I’ve become. One of my friends is going to die, and I’m glad that I’m safe…  _

“It is now time to choose who will be my new dolls. Now before we start, there is something I must say,” everyone looked at each other in fear, unsure of what the Doll Maker was going to say, “For those who are selected, they must also choose one person from among their group to assist them within the game.”

“Wait, is he saying that those who are picked get to choose a partner?” Kaito asked, looking at Shuichi for answers.

“I-I think so,” Shuichi said, “But what’s going to happen in the game that they need a partner?”

Kaito just shrugged before turning back to listen to the Doll Maker as he started to announce the players.

“The first one who will participate in my little game will be [The Ultimate Pianist].”

There was a collective sigh of relief from everyone, and Shuichi immediately felt guilty the moment he saw the look of fear in Kaede’s eyes. She swept her hair back as she tried to keep her calm demeanor.

“Who would you like to choose as your partner, Ms. Kaede?”

“I-I would like to pick…” she looked around the room, feeling uncomfortable as she met unfriendly faces, until she landed on a pair of gold eyes, “Shuichi. I want Shuichi as my partner.”

The Detective felt his heart drop the moment his name was said.

“Me?! You want me to be your partner?” he said, pointing to himself,

“Yeah! Why him?” Kaito yelled, stepping in front of his friend, “Why not Rantaro?”

“He’s good at puzzles,” Kaede quietly said, “If there is anyone I trust my life with, it’s Shuichi.”

Looking into those lavender eyes made him dizzy. Everything in his surroundings felt unreal as he stared into her pleading face.

_ She’s putting her life into my hands? After everything we’ve done, she still trusts me?  _

He looked at his hands, noticing how much he was shaking,

_ I-If I mess up, it’ll be my fault why she died.  _

The group was soon interrupted by the Doll Maker’s voice.

“The second person to join her will be [The Ultimate Assassin].”

Everyone turned to see Maki’s stone cold expression. She looked angrily to the ground as she shook her head, “I knew there was a good chance it was going to be me.”

She was soon grabbed by the shoulders as she stared into her boyfriend’s eyes.

“Maki, please!” the Astronaut pleaded, “Please choose me to be your partner! I promise I won’t let anything happen to you!”

Everyone watched as the Assassin’s face turned red, quickly shoving him away, as she started to instinctively play with her hair.

“What made you think I was going to choose someone else? You’re the only one I trust with my life.”

The sweet smile on Kaito’s face was soon twisted into screams of terror as three dark hallways appeared from right beside him.

“Now, may those who were selected enter the first hallway on the left. The partners will enter the middle one while everyone else will enter the rightmost hallway.” 

There was a moment of silence before Tenko spoke up, “I guess we’re all going then…”

Everyone started to go through their respective hallways as Shuichi waited for Kaito. The Astronaut pulled Maki into a tight hug,

“You’ll get through this, I promise. I won’t let anything happen to you.” Kaito whispered in her neck,

“Don’t worry I’ll be fine,” Maki said as she stood outside of her hallway, “If it was Rantaro, I’d be a little more cautious, but I think I can beat Kaede. I’m not going down without bringing one of them down with me.” 

She soon left the room and Shuichi followed Kaito to their respective hallway. As he was about to enter through, the Detective felt someone grab onto his sleeve.

“Kokichi?” he asked, turning around to find out that the Supreme Leader hasn’t left. He looked at the smaller teen questioningly, unable to see the expression on his face.

“Shuichi,” the boy started, “I know you care a lot about Kaede, but… Can you just let her die?”

Shuichi tumbled back, surprised to hear those words coming from the Supreme Leader, “A-Are you asking me to intentionally sabotage her?”

“Yeah, what’s so wrong with that?” he could finally see the expression on Kokichi’s face, it was a mixture of sadness and anger, “Don’t forget that they have been trying to sabotage us from the beginning. You can keep feeling sorry for the bitch or we can all leave here together. Shuichi, please… Just let her die...”

He could feel the grip on his sleeve start to tremble. Shuichi stared at the teen in front of him. His entire life he thought that Kokichi Ouma was an enigma that couldn’t be understood, but for the first time in his life, he could actually read the Supreme Leader for once. He didn’t need to know his entire backstory to understand that he was just as scared as everyone else. He took Kokichi’s hand into his own, a small smile on his lips,

“You’re right. I can’t let these feelings of mine get in the way anymore, so I-I’ll do what you say. I won’t help her.”

There was a quiet moment of silence before Kokichi pulled his hands away. He looked away from the Detective’s eyes as he chuckled, “Well, glad I could make that clear! I should get going now. I want a front row seat for her lost!”

The Supreme Leader quickly scampered away in the other hallway as he left the Detective alone in the room.

_ That was weird… Did I do something wrong?  _

\---

As the Detective exited the dark hallway, blocking his eyes from the harsh light of the room. He looked out, amazed how big the place was.

He quickly realized that he was in an arena-like building and he was given an elevated booth that let him see everything in the building. In this small area was a comfortable chair for him to sit in.

“Shuichi! Hey!” 

He turned to his right to find Kaito in a similar booth beside him, waving at him. He waved back before noticing a flash of white appear from the corner of his eye. He looked over to the left and realized that a little lower than him was an empty seating area. He watched as Kokichi looked around the building before seeing Tenko and Rantaro and running over to join them. The three seemed to be near the railings where they looked at something beyond the railings.

Right in front of him and what made up the majority of the building was what looked to be two huge obstacle courses the size of a football field. He gulped as he saw what was in store. On the farthest part of the field looked to be an area full of black and white squares where it soon transitioned to a maze full of barbed wire. After that came an old fashioned obstacle course and lastly a climbing wall full of red and blue rocks. In between each section, were two iron doors that separated the sections from one another. From across the building, he could see the tiny figures of Maki and Kaede as they stood nervously in their respective obstacle course.

_ Wait, is Kaede blindfolded? _

He approached the railings to get a closer look, seeing the black blindfold and headphones attached to her head. Looking even closer, he saw that there was a black band around each of her arms, ankles, and one on her neck. As he looked closer, he realized that attached to those bands was a black stretchy cable that stretched into the darkness of the hallway behind them. When he looked over to Maki’s side, he saw her trying to tug off her own blindfold as the same bindings were wrapped around her limbs.

He turned around to find a pair of headphones hanging by the arms of the black cushion chair. He sat in the chair, finding it more comfortable than he thought as he leaned back into it. He removed the headset from the chair, and examined it, finding a little mic attached to it.

_ I wonder… _

He slipped on the headphones.

“Hello?” he asked,

“Shuichi?!” Kaede yelled in his ear, “Where are you?”

“Uh well… I’m in a booth right now. I can see you from across the room but I won’t be able to get to you.”

“Oh, oh okay,” Shuichi looked up at the screen realizing that Kaede seemed to be calmer than she was moments before, “I’m just really glad to know that I’m not alone.”

He could only hum in agreement as the speakers of the stadium turned on.

“Welcome to the first ever Dolls Athletic Games!” the familiar voice of the Doll Maker enthusiastically said, “This place was originally going to be for a rare collection of sport-themed dolls, but it just… Didn’t work out…”

There was a small moment of silence before he continued.

“The game is simple! The Dolls will go through 4 trials blindfolded. Their partners, on the other side of the stadium, will act as their eyes and guide them, but if the Doll makes a mistake then the partner will receive an electric shock,” As soon as he said that, cuffs circled around his arms and his torso, binding him effectively to the chair. He tried to squirm out of the confines, but ended up finding himself out of breath, “For the lucky pair that works together and makes it to the end of the stadium and pushes the winning button will safely leave the area, but for the losing team, the two will be part of my new display.” 

Shuichi felt panic fill in his soul as he stared at the horrified expressions of both Maki and Kaede, finding that his own and Kaito’s were being shown on the screen as well. 

_ Is he saying that if Kaede loses this then I’m going to die as well? But if we win- _

He looked over to his side to find Kaito breathing heavily in his seat, as he did his best to keep calm as he spoke through the mic.

“Maki, i-it’s okay. This isn’t your fault… I chose to be here. Everything is going to be fine. I promise…”

Kaito looked over to Shuichi’s side, fear and guilt written on his face,

_ Shuichi, I’m sorry.  _ He mouthed out quietly.

The Detective threw his head back as he shut his eyes. He didn’t know if he wanted to scream or cry. It felt like everything he knew was real was crumbling around him,

_ If I just died back at the cave, maybe things would’ve been different… _

A flash of white caught the corner of his eye as he looked down into the audience. Kokichi had his hands wrapped around his mouth, the Detective could barely hear what he was saying.

_ What is he saying? “Please”? _

His yelling was cut off by the Doll Maker’s voice.

“Dolls, get ready...”   
  


_ Wait, we’re starting already?! _

The Supreme Leader tried yelling even louder. His throat becoming raw with the intensity of the screaming,

“Get set…”

His heart broke when he saw the Detective look away. He held onto his raw throat as he stumbled back into his chair. His head buried in his hands.

_ He didn’t hear me… _

“GO!”

_ Please, just forget what I said… Don’t die, Shuichi. There’s so many more lies I need to tell you… _

\---

As soon as a bell sounded, both Kaede and Maki sprinted forwards. Shuichi felt himself growing more worried as he saw how fast the Assassin was going.

He shook his head, focusing on Kaede’s course. The two girls were soon approaching a field of black and white squares,

“The Dolls are now approaching the first trial! The Dolls must only step on the black squares or the Partner will be shocked!” 

_ So Kaede just needs to step on the black squares? _

Both Kaede and Maki stood uncertain at the base of the field, neither of them wanting to shock their partners. 

“Kaede, take a large step forward!” Shuichi yelled into the headset as he watched Kaede step onto the square in front of her, “Okay, now take two steps to the left.”

He watched as Kaede followed his instructions, but Maki started to get onto the field herself.

_ Okay, this should be easy… But there are less black squares the farther they go. She may have to jump. _

“Okay, the next one is right in front of you, but you might have to jump it to reach it.”

Shuichi watched as Kaede reeled back before jumping forward. Her foot landed on the edge of the black square, but her heel hit the white edge. Shuichi yelled as electricity went through his body.

“Shuichi!” Kaede yelled through the mic, “I’m so sorry!”

“It’s okay…” he breathed heavily, “Keep going… Go 3 steps to the right. Now up 4 steps. Right 1...”

Shuichi watched the field, finding that Maki was about 4 rows behind Kaede, after Kaito had accidentally given her the wrong instructions and got shocked by it.

_ Okay… If we continue like this, we can be the first to finish the 1st trial… _

“Hey Maki?” Shuichi’s ears listened into Kaito’s conversation, “We’re behind… It’s okay, but just listen to what I have to say. I want you to just start running… I know, I know I’ll get shocked for it, but I can take it. Just go as fast as you can.”

Shuichi felt panic run through his body as he watched Maki sprint through the field. Right beside him, he could hear Kaito’s screams of pain as she touched white tile after white tile. In about 5 seconds, Maki finally made it out of the tile field, finding herself running straight into an iron door.

“Sorry… I should’ve told you that there was a door…” Kaito gasped, “Do you think you can open the door?”

As Kaito and Maki figured out how to open the door, Shuichi was trying to usher Kaede out of the tile field. As soon as Maki’s door was open did Kaede finally made it to the other side.

“The door won’t open…” Kaede said, pushing the door with her full weight,

_ How did Kaito open it… _

Shuichi looked at the screen. Finding nothing of interest on or around the door. He looked down at his seat, finding that there was a glowing button underneath his left hand on the armrest. He pressed it, soon finding that the door was sliding open.

“Both dolls have finally made it to the second trial!” the Doll Maker announced, “But it seems that Ms. Maki has already gotten a head start for the barb wire maze!”

Shuichi looked up at the screen, finding that Maki was quickly army crawling through the maze, but with Kaito’s help kept finding dead ends. 

_ Okay, this is our opportunity to catch up! _

“Okay, Kaede! Get on your stomach and keep your head down! There’s barb wire above and around you, so be careful, but still be quick.”

Kaede dropped to her stomach and started crawling based on Shuichi’s instructions. Shuichi felt electricity hit his body every single time Kaede cut herself on the wire, but it all made up for the fact that they finally had caught up to the Assassin.

“Okay, just a little bit more Kaede…” Shuichi said tiredly, “Just make a left and then another righ-”

Shuichi jumped as a loud scream from the right side. He turned his head, finding Kaito slumped over in his chair.

“Maki… Are you okay?”

He turned back to the screen finding Maki gripping onto her right leg as blood spooled out of the deep cut. She rashly stood up before crashing to the ground, but the Assassin still stood up, limping towards the now opening iron doors.

“What happened?” Kaede asked through the headphones as she stood up from the exit of the maze.

“I think Maki cut her leg when she went to stand up,” Shuichi said, surprised at how fast she was despite the pain, “But she’s limping really bad. We can probably catch up to her now…”

“Neck and neck, the two Dolls pass the 2nd trial, but not without injury! Such a shame that Ms. Maki cut her beautiful leg! Now, how will the two ladies do as they reach the old-fashioned obstacle course!”

“Kaede!” Shuichi yelled as he looked at the screen, “Be careful! There’s a slid-”

Shuichi flinched as he watched Kaede tumble down the yellow inflatable slide. Shuichi might have laughed if they weren’t in a death game. He looked at the other screen, finding that Maki had also fallen down the slide, grimacing in pain as she landed on her wounded leg. 

“Kaede, c’mon! Get up!” Shuichi yelled, through the mic, “In front of you, there’s a bunch of wooden pillars all lined up diagonally from each other.”

The Pianist stumbled as she stood up. She stretched out her arms as she touched one of the wooden pillars.

“AGHHH! Don’t touch them please!” Shuichi yelled through the mic,

“Oh, I-I’m sorry…”

“It’s okay… Kaede, stay where you are and turn towards 10 o'clock… Just like that… Now just sidestep out.”

Shuichi felt something inside of him fly as Kaede easily made it out of the wooden pillar and the monkey bar portion. From time to time, he would look over to see Maki stumbling through as she trailed behind. 

He looked over to the audience side to find Rantaro yelling from the sidelines as Kaede stood outside of the third and final iron door. His enthusiastic face clearly conflicted with the look of fear on Tenko’s. He looked over to the side to find Kaito quietly encouraging his girlfriend.

He looked at the third glowing button at his fingertips. Now feeling fear grow in his heart as he stared at it.

_ If I press this button, Kaede will probably win and Kaito and Maki will die… And there will still be 2 traitors among us… But if I don’t… I... _

Shuichi felt something terrible in his stomach. As Kaede spoke through the headphones,

“Shuichi? Shuichi? Are you okay? Hey, what’s going on? Open the door…”

[Everyone’s fate is in Shuichi’s hands! Should he make the ultimate sacrifice and take down a traitor? Or survive and lose the two people he considered his closest friends?]

>Press the button

>Don’t press the button

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> VOTE BELOW:  
> https://linkto.run/p/0NLUQNER
> 
> I did a random draw for this one, and I'm seriously regretting it. I've never felt this much panic for fictional characters, and I seriously wonder how it's going on your guy's end. Anyway, seriously wondering what you guys think about this chapter and what you voted for, and your reasons!
> 
> I really do love your responses, and I definitely want to see what you guys think of this chapter because I don't know what to make of it.


	30. Chapter 10.7: March

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> All of y'all really said "RIP Shuichi" in the comments and then had the AUDACITY to make it a 50/50 vote. Dudes, you can't keep doing this to me...

Shuichi could feel his finger tremble over the button as he stared up at the TV. Maki was desperately pushing through the columns as the blood flowed down her leg. Every so often she would trip and crash onto one of the wooden columns and screams of pain would follow soon after beside him. He could feel the heavy hot tears run down his face as Kaito was electrocuted again.

_ Please stop… Please make it all stop… I just want it to stop… _

He looked up at the screen to see Kaede pushing on the door, desperate to get through, as Maki got closer and closer on her side. 

“Shuichi! Open the door! Please” she cried faintly in his ears.

He looked down at the glowing button before him. It was sort of funny how such a measly button had such a big impact on their lives. He looked over to his right side,

“Keep on going! You got it! Just a few more steps and I can open the door!” Kaito yelled through the headpiece.

Shuichi threw his head back onto the cushion of the chair. Ever since this crazy game had started, he felt at peace.

_ How could I ever think about pushing the button? After all that Kaito has done to keep me alive, it would just be wrong to push it. I-I can’t do it… _

**Shuichi decided to [Not Push the Button]**

Kaede pushed on the cold iron door, knowing that she was much too weak to even make the thing budge. She toppled to the ground as the exhaustion from being thrown into 2 games straight into a row was getting to her.

_ Why? Why won’t he open the door? _

“Shuichi? C’mon Shuichi! Plea-”

“Kaede,” a calm voice sounded in her ears, “I-I’m sorry, but I won’t be opening the door.”

“Shuichi, what are you saying?” a small giggle forced itself out of Kaede’s mouth, “Don’t you know what that means?”

She could feel a lump forming in her throat in the moment of silence.

“...Yeah.”

“Shuichi, we’ll both die if we don’t finish the last trial”

“I know.”

“C’mon Shuichi! I know things are really tough, but we won’t know if we don’t try! You can’t give up here!” she bit the inside of her cheek, “Shuichi?”

There was no answer.

Kaede jumped at the sound of rumbling from far away.

“And the third door has been opened!” the Doll Maker announced, “Ms. Maki is now entering the final stage where she faces the 30 feet rock wall! If she passes through this, she’ll reach the winning button! Be mindful though that if she touches any of the red rocks, her partner will be electrocuted! As for Ms. Kaede, it seems things aren’t going as easy on her end. Perhaps the two are finally having their first fight?”

“Shuichi! Please! I know I’ve done some terrible things, but you have to open this door! If you don’t, we’re both going to die!”

Shuichi trembled as the Pianist screamed in his ears. He wished he could turn off the headset and just turn away from the screen, but his bound limbs kept him in place, forcing him to see the look of desperation on the Pianist face. 

“Dammit Shuichi, what are you doing?” Shuichi turned his head, surprised to hear a more deeper voice yelling at him. He didn’t expect to see such a distressed expression on the Astronaut’s face.

“Kaito, I-”

An electric current ran through Shuichi’s body as he spasmed in pain. A loud scream erupted from his lips as he collapsed in his chair. He could hear the Astronaut’s yells for concern among the ringing in his ears.

“Shuichi, open the door. I don’t want to do that again.”

The Detective lifted his head to look at the screen, finding Kaede standing next to one of the wooden columns, her hand only inches away from the surface. 

“I-I’m sorry, Kaede. I can’t-”

Another explosive current ran through his body. 

“Shuichi!” Kaito yelled from his chair.

Shuichi sat back in his chair, watching Kaito from the corner of his eye. He even glanced at the screen to find that even Maki had stopped mid climb.

“If you survive, it’s all… Worth it…”

Kaito watched in horror as another current ran through his best friend’s body. He could hear Maki asking him what was wrong. He turned his head to the screen to find Kaede resting her hand on the column before quickly pulling it away.

“ShuichI! Press the button! Press the goddamn button! It’s not worth it!”

The Astronaut couldn’t tell if the Detective was giggling or sobbing softly as his head lolled back into the chair. Another current ran through as a weaker scream ripped out of his body. Lazy golden eyes stared through wispy black hair as a small smile appeared on his face,

“Kai… Thank yo…”

Kaito’s heart dropped when the Detective finally slumped over his chair before another rip of electricity shook his unconscious body. 

_ He’s suffering…  _

He turned back to the screen,

“Maki! Go! I don’t care what happens to me! Just climb!” 

There was a moment of hesitation before the Assassin started to climb as she ignored the flaring pain in her leg. She could hear the yells of pain from the other side of the ear piece, but it was nothing compared to the yells of desperation she heard earlier.

She drowned out everything as she focused on climbing. Without having to worry about not touching the red rocks, she quickly rose to the top of the climbing wall where instead of a rock she felt a flat surface. She tossed herself over the edge, landing herself on a cold floor.

“Kaito…” she breathed heavily, “Are you okay?”

She could hear her heart pounding in her ears as she prayed that he was still alive.

“Y-Yeah I’m okay…” he choked out in heavy breathes, “The button is right ahead of you. Hurry...”

Maki pulled herself to her feet, holding her hands out in front of her. She stumbled forward in the dark, until she bumped her hip into something.

“I found it, Kaito. I have it.”

She pressed down onto the button, and as soon as she did, a loud buzzer rang as the blindfold and restraints fell from her body. She turned around to see the large obstacle course, followed by the barb wire maze, and the tile flooring. 

_ Is that… _

On a large screen above her, she saw her own face alongside Kaito’s crying one as a banner underneath wrote “WINNER”, but as she looked on the “Losers” side, she shuddered. Kaede was clearly distressed, yelling through her headpiece, as she collapsed to the floor. Shuichi, on the other hand, was slumped over his chair as plumes of smoke hovered over his body.

“That’s it folks!” the Doll Maker yelled over the speaker as all of the obstacles from the field slowly descended into the ground, “The winner of the first ever Dolls Race is Maki Harukawa and Kaito Momota! Give them a round of applause everyone! Now for the losers…”

The screen changed where it was just focused on Kaede. 

“-ichi, why... Why…”

Her crying was soon cut off as the restraint on her neck pulled her backwards. Everyone watched as the Pianist desperately tried to cling onto the ground as the rope pulled her closer and closer to the dark hallway. She grabbed onto the corner, fighting to pull her body from the darkness as the restraints fought against her.

“Someone! Please! Help m-!” 

With a final sceam, she was pulled into the dark hallway. 

“Thank you all for your participation,” the Doll Maker happily said, “From your contributions, Kaede Akamatsu will become a splendid doll in my collection! Hopefully, you all enjoyed the show and have a wonderful day.”

Maki didn’t know exactly how long she stayed standing there, but when the lights in the stadium started going down, and she realized she was the only one left did she leave.

\---

As Maki wandered down the long dark hallway, she could hear Kaede’s screams in her head. She had so much resentment from the Pianist before, but now she could feel nothing but pity for her. She shook her head,

_ Everyone’s waiting for me. I need to go.  _

She continued forward, limping slightly on her wounded leg as a bright light entered her vision and she found herself back in the Ballerina Display room.

“Maki!” She was soon pulled into a tight embrace as the strong smell of something burning hit her nose. She quickly pulled away, looking up to find Kaito smiling happily at her, as pieces of his hair and beard were smoking, “Heh, I guess I got too excited. Sorry about that.”

As Kaito pulled one of his hands behind his head, she could see the deep purple bruises revealing itself under his sleeves. She could feel something drop in her stomach as she realized the extent that he had suffered as well.

“No it’s okay. I was just caught off guard. Where is everyone?”

“I think they’re coming. I’m surprised that they didn’t get here first though.” Kaito replied. 

The two were soon interrupted as the sounds of footsteps approached them from one of the hallways. Tenko, Kokichi, and Rantaro soon popped out of the hallway.

“Oh he-!”

The couple was soon pulled into a tight embrace by the Aikido Master. 

“I’m so glad to see the both of you guys alive!” Tenko wailed as the two looked at each other in concern. It wasn’t normal for Tenko to ask for a hug from Maki, but it was even weirder that she would willingly hug a man. Soon, the smell of burning flesh and hair made Tenko pull herself away from the two, “S-Sorry! I’m just so happy that the two of you made it out! ”

Kaito gave a wide smile.

“It’s okay! We’re just glad to be back-” He froze when he saw Rantaro’s angry face glaring intensely at him. He quickly focused on Tenko’s green eyes, “... Too. Yeah, I’m just happy to be alive right now.”

“Yeah,” Maki replied, embarrassed by the close contact with the other girl, “I think we should go. We don’t know how much time we have left…” 

As the entire group left the display room and Tenko took Maki by the arm, Kaito found himself staring in Kokichi’s direction as he looked boredly at the rest of the displays. He found himself growing angry at how alarmingly normal the teen was acting, but those feelings were soon lost when he saw the horrified expression on the Supreme Leader’s face.

“Kokichi, what’s wrong?”

“Kae-Kae…” he stammered as he lifted a finger towards the back of the collection.

Kaito turned towards the direction he was pointing in. He could see a red sparkly curtain peeking from inside one of the display cases, but he couldn’t understand what was the big deal. Everyone, too, also seemed to be curious of the teen’s odd behavior.

“Wait, wasn’t that display case empty?” Tenko questioned as she walked towards the back before screaming in surprise.

In front of them, hiding behind the display case, was Kaede. She was sitting in front of a black grand piano, fingers frozen over the black and white keys, as if she was in the middle of playing. Unlike the tattered clothes she was in before, she was now wearing the same dress she wore at the beginning of the night. It was almost as if she had never gone in the death game to begin with, and they all might’ve thought she was still alive, if not for the aquamarine gems embedded in her eyes. 

The more Kaito stared at the display, the more sick he felt in his stomach. He noticed the small traces of blood leftover from when she was clawing at the ground and the purple bruise hiding underneath the well placed choker from the neck restraint, but worse of all was when he looked into the audience and he saw a familiar black-haired Detective watching fondly at the Pianist with shining Sapphire blue eyes. 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I told y'all that next time there's a 50/50 someone is going to die, but BOY was that terrifying to write! 
> 
> Anyways, tell me what you think about this chapter since not only did we lose a traitor, we also lost the main protagonist! Also, I would love to hear what your guy's favorite chapter/room was! 
> 
> I think my top three are the Dragon, the Bomb room, and the Heroes vs. Monster!


	31. Quick Update

Hi guys!

Just a quick update, nothing too serious, but just wanted to let y'all know that I am going to take a break from writing this

until I have all of my school work done for the semester. I was planning to tell y'all earlier since I thought

that I would finish everything by this week but I was only able to finish 50% of it.

I probably will finish all of it sometime this week, but finals are coming up and it might mess up with the updates.

Just may or may not expect inconsistent posting for the next 2-3 weeks.

Thank you guys for reading this! You don't know how much you guys mean to me!

Happy holidays!


	32. Chapter 11.0: Hunters and Souls

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I'M ALIVE! barely. 
> 
> I'm so sorry for the wait, but I couldn't catch a break during these past few weeks, but I'M SO GLAD TO BE BACK! I really missed writing this story...

Kaito stared down at his feet as he passed through the stone doors. He felt like his head was swimming through fog, almost as if at any moment he would disappear entirely into the mist. Shining sapphire gems and a singed crumpled body flashed through his mind, and soon his entire head was drowning in the sounds of painful electrified screams.

“Kaito,” His gaze rested on red eyes and the foggy seas receded away, “Are… Are you okay?”

Kaito watched as Maki awkwardly played with her hair, knowing that was her best attempt at comforting the Astronaut. 

“Yeah… I’m okay.” he nodded, “I’m cool. Just one more room…”

His mind jumped back to Shuichi’s lifeless form.

_ He was so close to making it out… I can’t let that happen to Maki. I won’t let that happen again! _

He took one more deep breath before finally looking around his surroundings. They were back in the lobby, but he shuddered at how big it seemed.

_ It looked so small when there were 16 of us, but this place is actually pretty huge.  _

He turned around to see the tired stern expression on Kokichi’s face. The teen looked like he had aged as all traces of mischievousness were gone. In his eyes, Kaito could see the small embers of anger smoldering in despair as he glared at the Adventurer on the other side of the room who was handing the key over to Monokuma. 

_ Kokichi seems… Different. He always messed with Shuichi, but were they actually that close?  _

The building rumbled, and after the shaking, the annoying voice of Monokuma piped up:

“Upupupu! I heard that the last room was a double whammy! I always knew the Pianist liked the emo kid, but who knew that her love was so... ELECTRIFYING! Ahahaha!”

The bear’s laugh died as his joke was met with the sound of silence.

“Anyways, you guys have one more room to complete and you’re home free! But I got to remind you: you kids got until sunrise before you get SQUASHED! And according to the time, you guys have about two hours left until you’re all pancakes! It’s called  _ Escape the Night  _ for a reason!”

There was a moment of silence before Rantaro started walking towards the last door.

“There’s no point wasting time,” He swung open the door, his eyes illuminating in it’s dark shadows, “So go ahead and follow me. Let’s finally end this game once and for all.”

As everyone cautiously followed the lone class leader, Kaito sneaked a glance at the statue above it.

_ A scythe… That can’t mean anything good… _

As held his breath as he entered the darkness of the room.

\---

When Kaito opened his eyes, he was taken aback by the lush green scenery in front of him. 

_ I was not expecting this… _

In front of the entire group was a lush jungle forest full of tall trees, fat leaves, and vines. From far away, Kaito could hear the roar of a nearby waterfall. The Astronaut watched in wonder as a parrot flew over his head. 

“Hey. No dawdling. We have only 2 hours left.” Rantaro said spitefully before disappearing completely into the jungle lush,

“This fucking guy...” Kaito huffed as the entire group hurried to catch up with the Adventurer.

\---

Kaito slapped the left side of his neck, pulling it back to find a black smudge on his hand.

“Fuck! This is like the 5th mosquito that bit me!” he looked Maki in the eye fearfully, “You don’t think these mosquitoes have malaria, right?”

“Kaito, I don’t know if magical mosquitoes have malaria…” she sighed as she stepped over a large root.

“I don’t know. Maybe it’s like magical malaria or someth-”

“Can you just stop talking nonsense?” an angry voice piped up behind the couple. Kaito turned around to find a tired and angry Kokichi glaring up at him.

“What’s your problem this time, Kokichi?” Maki asked, staring at the Supreme Leader with contempt as she continued walking.

“Ugh, why do I have to be stuck with these idiots…” Kokichi grumbled under his breath, before he brought his voice down to where only the four of them could hear “Rantaro has been leading us through this jungle for about 10 minutes! Have none of you guys wondered where the hell he’s taking us?”

A surge of realization ran through Kaito’s head. He did find it odd that the class leader seemed to know exactly where to go, but he chalked it all up to the fact that he was the SHSL Adventurer. He glared suspiciously at the teen who was aggressively pushing his way through the thick leaves.

“You’re right. We have no idea what he’s up to... Maki, I think you should get behi-”

“Maki, you should get behind me.”

He looked behind him to meet Tenko’s stern look as she held his girlfriend by the hand. 

“That’s  **my** girlfriend.” 

“And **I’m** the Ultimate Aikido Master.” she spat back,

“And I’m the Ultimate Assassin. Move.”

She pushed past the two, taking the lead, as Kokichi followed behind her rolling his eyes. 

The group of four continued to follow the Adventurer from a safe distance until they finally reached a clearing. 

“We’re here.” 

As they all left the jungle, they saw the small log seats that gathered around a campfire that was near a tent. If it wasn’t weird enough that there was a convenient campsite in the jungle, there was also a misplaced grand piano lying in the middle of it.

Everyone watched cautiously as Rantaro plopped down in front of the tent before reaching inside to pull one black case and four black cases from it.

“Welcome to the final room.” he said casually as he flip the locks on the case open,

“So what?” Kaito scoffed, “This is your territory? You run this place?”

“Pretty much, but I was supposed to share it with Kaede. Now it’s just me left to run the last room by myself.”

“Are we supposed to feel bad for you?” Kokichi spat, “You were in this from the start. You killed all of our classmates.”

“Yeah, I did, but soon you guys will understand what Kaede and I went through. And then you’ll realize that we didn’t have a  _ choice _ .” 

Everyone jumped as Rantaro quickly pulled a rifle from the black case. Kaito felt his muscles freeze when the barrel was pointed straight at him before Maki stood in front of him.

“If you shoot, I will kill you…”

The Adventurer didn’t budge, his eyes matching the same ferocity as the Assassin herself.

“I’d say try it, but it won’t do you any good. But the traitor died during the last game, and you know what happened? Kaede and I were chosen to become the next ones. If you kill me then two of you guys will be chosen to be the next ones to care for the Ruins.”

“Care for the Ruins? What are you talking about?” Kaito spoke through clenched teeth,

"These ruins need to bind to someone’s soul to exist. That person is called the Ruin Keeper. It technically only needs one, but if that person dies then it automatically chooses two people to care for it.”

“So why the hell did you drag us into your mess?” Kokichi yelled,

“We-We had to. The only way for a Ruin Keeper to leave is to pass on the role to someone else.”

“So you two decided that the only way to leave this place was to sacrifice your classmates? Was that it?” 

Rantaro didn’t say anything as he repositioned his gun to point at Kokichi, “Do you want to get the final key or what?”

“W-Wait! But how did you two even get here in the first place?” Tenko asked,

“No more questions,” Rantaro spat, “If you want to get the final key and not become the next Ruin Keeper, you better listen to me.”

Everyone remained quiet as Rantaro lowered the gun to the floor.

“The rules of this game are simple: Don’t get caught. I’ll give you guys a 30 seconds headstart to run wherever you want. You guys will have an hour and a half to run away from me, but if I find and catch you, then you’ll automatically become the next candidate to become the next Ruins Keeper. If I catch more than one person then the rest of you guys will have to vote for who the next Ruin Keeper will be, but as long as I catch one of you I’m out of here. You guys will get the final key if you are able to outrun me in that hour and a half, but one more thing...”

A moment of silence ran through the group, all of them waiting to hear what that extra piece of information was.

“When people die in this place, their souls are trapped here forever. Kaede and I were allowed to choose exactly what kind of rules to make for our game, so we decided that we would give you guys the opportunity to free them,” he threw the four brown cases to the rest of the group, “Inside those cases are nets which you can catch and free the souls with. Not only will it give you more space to run through, but it will also save the rest of our class from suffering here for all eternity. You guys should hurry though when it comes to saving them, the moment that timer runs out those nets will disappear as well. Not only that, don’t forget that I’ll be chasing after you as well.” 

Kaito hesitantly opened the case, finding a golden net inside. He held it firmly in his hands.

_ I can save Shuichi with this… _

With nets in hand, everyone felt a little bit more confident, but their spirits dwindled as they eyed the gun in the Adventurer’s hands as he aimed above his head.

“30 second timer starts… NOW!”

None of them hesitated to run back into the forest after the shot fired through the air. 

“So what’s the plan?” Kaito yelled as he ran,

“Isn’t it obvious?” Kokichi yelled back, “We need to leave this place! It’ll be better if we split up once we get to the door!” 

“There’s 11 souls and 4 of us! I think each of us should tackle about 2-3 souls each!” Maki said,

“But what do we do about those who died in groups? Like the ones who died in the Bomb room or the Doll room?” Tenko asked,

“Then that person will just have to catch all of those souls too!” Kaito yelled back, 

“Leave Himiko and Angie to me then!” Tenko said as she jumped over a large root,

“I’ll find Gonta, Kiibo, and that pig slut!” Kokichi panted, “Oh, and Kirumi too. I’ll also find Shuichi!”

“No, dude, I’ll find him,” Kaito received a death glare from Kokichi, “You’re already taking on four people, and it’s not just Shuichi you’ll have to find. You’ll also have to get Kaede too.”

“Oh please, let that selfish bitch suffer here for all eternity then!” 

“Kokichi! You’re going to get caught if you take on that many!” Kaito yelled, “Not only that, if you can’t catch all of them in time then someone is going to be left here.”

There was a moment of guilt on the Supreme Leader’s face, “Fine. I’ll go to the Bomb and Angel room then.”

“Okay, then I’ll get Shuichi and Kaede.”

“And I’ll get Korekiyo and Hoshi.” Maki replied, “Are we missing anyone?”

“Oh, Tsumugi!” Kaito smacked himself in the head, “I’ll get her too! I’m the only one who has one room.”

A gunshot was heard in the distance as they continued to sprint through the jungle.

“He’s coming guys!” Kaito yelled as he ran faster,

“I think the door is straight ahead!” Tenko yelled back, “Good luck guys okay? Don’t get caught!” 

As the image of the stone doors appeared ahead, Kaito could feel the doubt clouding his mind. At this moment, he wished nothing more but to have Shuichi with him. He’d probably be able to predict what’s the best course of action. He shook the negative thoughts from his head as he came close to the door.

_ Shuichi, I’m coming for you! Just wait for me! _

As he plunged in the darkness of the door, the thought of shining sapphires flooded his mind. 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Alternative Route:  
> If Kaede was still alive, they would both be hunting the rest of the players, but the music of Clair de Lune would follow them and basically be an alert system.
> 
> Guys, I am so glad to be back and ready to dish out some more misfortune! Due to that extra time and some of your comments, it has really helped me to plan out how this chapter is going to go so be ready to make the right (or dreadfully wrong one) choices!
> 
> Tell me what you guys think of this chapter! I would love to know your likes, your dislikes, your predictions, etc. They are all very useful and help me write these stories!


	33. Chapter 11.2: Tenko's Hunt

“Good luck guys, okay? Don’t get caught!”

The moment that everyone charged into the Ruins, no one wasted time as they ran to their respective rooms. Tenko darted her eyes around the room looking for a certain door as everyone else disappeared from the Ruins. 

_ Wh-Where’s the door that leads back to the ballroom? It’s not here! _

She turned back at the Scythe door, her heart pounding in her chest.

_ I need to hurry. Rantaro will be here any moment now. Ah! I don’t have time to stall! _

She pushed past the 3rd door, finding herself in the familiar toy store where they had to find the parts of a torn apart bunny, but it wasn’t as fun and pristine as the first time she had arrived there. 

All of the toys that they had thrown abruptly about still littered the floors as some were carelessly tossed in bins and shelves. The darkness of the store almost gave it a post-apocalyptic feel as she wandered past the half empty shelves.

_ Angie is around here? How am I supposed to fin- _

Tenko froze in her tracks as she heard shoes tapping into the linoleum pavement, her heart pounding as she slowly peered through the gaps of the shelves. 

Tenko only had to see the tufts of green hair before pulling herself away. She pressed a hand to her mouth before crouching down.

_ Rantaro is already here?! Out of all the rooms to choose from, he chose this one? _

She watched him through the gaps. The teenager didn’t seem to notice her presence as he stared at the inside of a pocket watch before shutting it and slipping it inside his back pocket. The Adventurer gave a sigh of disappointment as he walked in the opposite direction towards the back of the store.

_ This is my chance! I need to get out of here now! _

The Aikido Master slowly tiptoed her way out of the store, making careful steps not to make any sounds as she maneuvered around the trashed toys. As soon as she made it out, she hid behind a nearby wall.

_ Oh thank God! He didn’t see me! Time to look for Angie! _

She looked around her surroundings, seeing the familiar space where the two evil twins had taken their friends hostage. Her mind flashed back to the moment that Kiibo and Angie were dragged away from the entire group.

_ I’m not sure where the two were taken, but they went in this direction I’m sure of it. _

Tenko ran quietly down the same path as she remembered from her memory, finding herself at the feet of two giant marble doors. She grabbed onto the golden handles, slowly pulling them open as she looked back at the store and saw the Adventurer’s face at the entrance of the Toy Store still aimlessly looking about. She quickly stepped into the room before closing the doors in front of her as fast as possible.

_ Oh man… That was close. _

She sighed in relief as she looked down at the base of the door. She tilted her head as she stared at the dark red speckles before trailing down to the floor at the pool of blood. Tenko gasped as she stepped back and felt her foot land on something that felt like a stick. She turned around slowly, bringing a hand to her mouth as she stared at the horror on the floor. 

Angie lied face down on the floor, surrounded in her own blood as a single bloody hand laid outstretched towards Tenko. Two golden pairs of scissors were embedded in her back as deep lines of red were littered across her back and legs. 

_ Angie… No… _

She found herself trembling as she knelt down beside the body, warm tears started to drip down her face as she started to cry quietly.

“A-Angie, I-I’m so sorry… I-I never wanted this to happen to you. I know we had our differences and I was angry, but I never wanted this…” 

A soft yellow light caught the Aikido Master’s eye as she looked up. Across the marble hallway was a soft yellow ball of light, pulsing weakly as it flew close to the ground. Tenko got to her feet quickly, clutching the golden net close to her chest.

“A-Angie, is that you?” she said quietly to the ball of light. The ball of light slowly drifted farther away, “Wait no! Don’t go! It’s me, Tenko! I-I’m here to help.”

At the sound of her name, the ball got brighter and slowly started drifting towards the twin-tailed girl. As the soul got closer, Tenko scooped it up in her hand feeling the slight warmth emanating from it. She felt a certain sadness stirring inside of her as it pulsed weakly in her hands.

“You must have felt so tired, Angie. You fought so hard. You can finally rest now, and I really do hope that you find your peace with Atua.”

She dropped the soul into the net, the ball dispersing in thousands of different tiny lights as they illuminated the air. Tenko stared in wonder as she saw visions of Angie’s happy memories within the lights, feeling warmth as she saw the three of them sharing an ice cream brownie, until the lights completely dissipated into the air. 

Tenko wiped the tears from her eyes before turning back to face the door. Feeling braver than she did before, she slowly opened the marble doors taking a peep outside.

_ I don’t think Rantaro is here anymore. I think I can go back now. _

Tenko quickly sneaked past the door before running into the shop. As soon as she entered, a loud bang erupted in the air and a bullet whizzed by her ear. Tenko dove to the ground as another shot rang through the air. She turned around, seeing the Adventurer standing by the counter, gun pointed straight at her.

“Take this!”

She quickly grabbed a nearby blue bunny, chucking it in the direction of the teenage boy, as she ran towards the back of the store.

_ The exit! I need to get to the exit! _

As she ran past, she caught glimpses of the Adventurer steadily catching up to her. She ran towards the stone doors, but just as she was about to enter the Ruins, she grabbed onto a nearby shelf before slamming it to the ground and toppling over her pursuer. 

Tenko slammed the stone doors behind her as she reached the Ruins.

_ I need to get to the Ballroom before Rantaro gets out! _

She cupped her hands around her mouth and started yelling, “Monokuma! Monokuma!”

The bear appeared to her feet as he held a martini in his hand, “What’s up, toots?”

“Monokuma, how do I get back to the Ballroom? I need to go there now.”

The bear put a paw up to his fluffy chin.

“Hmmmm, the Ballroom you say? You aren’t thinking of leaving are you? Because that would be very bad if you did!” 

Tenko took another anxious glance back at the door before turning right back around and scooping the bear in her arms, holding him up to where she was face level to the dual-colored bear.

“I won’t leave. I promise I won’t leave, but I need to know how I can go back there.”

Monokuma writhed in her grasp, pushing his paws against her face.

“Okay, fine! Let me down!” 

Tenko watched as Monokuma walked to a certain portion of the wall, sweat dripping down her forehead as she watched the door out of the corner of her eye. The bear extended his arm along the wall before mysteriously pulling a brass key out of thin air. He started to walk towards the girl with the key in hand.

“Here is the key that weird cult girl won. If you step into any shadow, you’ll be transported back to the Ballroom. If you want to come back, you just need to step into the same shadow that you came out of,” As Tenko reached to grab the key, he pulled it out of reach, “Upupupu, but don’t think you can escape that easy! If you try to lea-”

The stone door slammed against the wall as a disheveled Rantaro stepped through. The silver gun gleaming maliciously under the moonlight as green eyes bore itself into Tenko’s soul. It took only a split second before she snatched the key out of the stuffed toy’s hands and jumped into the nearest shadow.

As she was melting within the shadows, only one thought was on her mind.

_ Himiko, I’m coming!  _

\---

Tenko fell on top of the wooden floors. She groaned as she brought herself to her feet, clutching her head as she looked around the room. 

Vines stuck out of almost every crevice as they littered the walls, wrapping its snaky tendrils around the rotting bookshelves. In the middle of the room was an old dusty executive desk. Tenko stepped over the broken globe as a cold wind entered the room from the broken windows.

_ This place is so old and creepy… Where am I? _

She found herself leaving the dilapidated library. She walked down the hallway as she came across another room. Her eyes widened as she spotted a familiar golden pedestal. She knelt down beside it, feeling the golden buttons on its surface. She picked up a piece of a broken vase nearby.

_ This is the same pedestal that Angie and I were fighting about at the beginning of the night… This is the vase that Himiko was holding…  _

A nearby crash and light curses brought Tenko out of her thoughts. She turned her head towards the opposite hallway finding bright green eyes staring at her from the darkness. She didn’t hesitate to book it down the room as bullet holes embedded itself into the rotting walls.

_ Himiko… I need to find Himiko…  _

She barged into the ballroom. The once glitzy room was now completely destroyed as the fine wallpaper was peeling off the walls and the crystal chandelier was now scattered on the ground in a million pieces. She looked around the room frantically, seeing no wandering ball of light anywhere.

_ She’s not here either. Where can she be? _

Tenko turned towards the old grand piano that Kaede was playing on at the beginning of the night. She ducked behind it as Rantaro entered the room.

“Tenko, just give it up. There’s literally nowhere you could run or hide to.”

Tenko took a deep breath as Rantaro walked slowly through the ball room. 

_ When Himiko and Angie went to the death game, where did they go?  _

She remembered that after Korekiyo had finished the incantation, a bolt of lightning had struck the two girls and they were gone.

_ Aghhh! They just disappeared! C’mon Tenko! Remember any clues that might have been important! _

She could only remember the horror of seeing Himiko’s bent up body as everyone scattered to get away. The screams of terror only filled her mind as she tried to remember.

Tenko flinched when a loud bang erupted in the room and shattered a nearby window. 

“Tenko, I know you’re behind the piano. Come on out.”

She peered behind the piano where she saw the footsteps slowly get closer and closer. She could feel her heart pound even faster, but in the corner of her eye she saw the dark slivers of an open room peeking out of the wallpaper.

_ Wait… Is that a door behind the wall? It’s behind Rantaro, but he’ll just follow me if I run towards it... _

Tenko looked down before her, seeing the broken pieces of glass that fell when the bullet had pierced the glass. An idea popped in her head as she carefully grabbed as many pieces as she could.

As soon as she had a good handful, she looked underneath the piano seeing that the Adventurer was going around and meeting her from the other side. She took a deep breath in.

_ Now just wait for Rantaro to show his ugly mug… _

As soon as Rantaro flung himself from the side of the piano, Tenko threw the pieces of glass at his face. 

“AGHHH!” 

The sound of firing exploded behind her as she raced through the hidden door. She quickly slammed it shut as she pressed herself against the door, her chest heaving heavily.

“Aw fuck,” Rantaro cursed from the other side of the door, hissing with pain, “She almost cut my eye… Ow… Where did she go? I can’t believe I lost her.”

As Tenko heard the footsteps get fainter and fainter, she sighed in relief.

_ Maybe Angie was right. God is real. _

She unstuck herself from the door, finding herself in an old hallway, but at the end of it was a sturdy steel door that made the Aikido Master want to run the other way. 

Somehow, she found herself slowly inching towards it, but as she found herself reaching for the handle she found herself hesitating.

_ Tenko… You have to go. Himiko is waiting for you. _

With a deep breath, she pushed the door open with a heavy grunt. When she found herself on the other side of the door, she felt all the air escape from her body.

There were lines upon lines of lightswitches littering the walls as a single fluorescent light hung from the ceiling. Tenko could feel herself trembling as she saw the jail bars that divided the room in two and how on the other side, it was pitch black aside from a small blue ball of light hovering in the middle of it.

“Himiko!”

She looked around the room, desperate to find some way to get through the other side, but found nothing that connected the two sides. She grabbed onto the bars, hoping to reach to the Magician.

“Himiko! It’s me! It’s me, Tenko! Himiko, I’m here! I’m here to save you!”

She could feel the tears roll down her cheeks as the soul flickered in the dark. A sad small voice resonated from the darkness.

**_No, you’re going to leave me too… Just like how Angie left me…_ **

“Himiko… Please… I’m not going to leave you... I won’t ever leave you… Himiko…”

Tenko gulped down tears as she shakily reached the net out, hoping to catch the soul within, but she was too much out of reach.

**_Nyeh, th-that’s what they always say, but they all think I’m a burden… I’ll always be alone._ **

Tenko dropped the golden net to her side. Tears freely flowing down her face as she grabbed onto the bars.

“Himiko… I know how painful it must be to be alone… I’ve felt so lonely without you by my side! Nothing has been the same since you’ve been gone! So please, come back to me! I promise I won’t leave you! I will never let you feel lonely again!” 

As the girl collapsed onto herself, sobbing into her arms, a warm feeling rubbed itself against her cheek. Tenko wiped her nose as she looked up to find Himiko’s soul right in front of her. It rubbed itself against her cheek once more almost as if it was trying to wipe the tears. She gently cupped the bright blue flames as she hovered it above the net.

“Thank you, Himiko, for all the time that you’ve spent with me. I will cherish all the memories that we’ve had together.”

As the bright flames broke into a thousands different wisps of memories. Tenko sat in awe as all of the joyful memories of the two flew around her, but as soon as the flames disappeared something dropped in her lap. The Aikido Master gently picked the item up, shining the blue topaz in the light.

_ Himiko’s hair clip…  _

Tenko fumbled with the hair clip, pinning it to the side. She quickly picked herself up and wiped her tears away.

_ I have Himiko’s protection now! With this, I’m now luckier than I ever was before! _

With hope filling her soul, she walked away from the dark dungeon and back into the hallway. She pressed her ear to the old rotting door, making sure to hear any sounds of movement from outside, but when she heard nothing she still felt herself hesitating.

_ I shouldn’t let my guard down. He ambushed me the first time, he could be planning to do it again. When I open this door, I should just book it to the exit. _

After a silent count of three, she flung the door open and bolted outside. She barely missed the bullet as it embedded itself in the wall behind her. Rantaro revealed himself from behind the piano, a few fresh cuts marred his pretty face.

“I let you have your alone time, Tenko. It’s time to give up right now.”

Tenko quickly got on her feet, flashing a bright smile.

“Oh yeah? Like I’m going to let a man tell me what to do.”

Tenko bolted for the ballroom exit as a barrage of bullets followed behind her. As she turned the corner, she could see the building exit straight ahead. Even though her soul was light, she knew that the possibilities were low, and as Rantaro appeared from the corner as well a parade of thought entered the Aikido Master’s mind.

[What should Tenko do to escape Rantaro?]

> Leave the building

> Fight Him Off

> Run Back to the Ruins

> Hide

**VOTE BELOW!**

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> VOTE BELOW:  
> https://linkto.run/p/470WPDBI
> 
> Even though this is the ending, we still got a lot more baby! Hopefully, you guys enjoyed this chapter and I would love to know what you voted for and your reason why! I am so excited yet terrified to read your responses, but I know you guys never fail me! And hopefully, you won't fail Tenko either!
> 
> Good luck everyone!


	34. Chapter 11.4: Maki's Hunt

**Tenko decided to [Run Back to the Ruins]**

Tenko jumped over the fallen pedestal as bullets broke through the window in front of her. Sharp pieces of glass tore through her skin as she continued to run down the hallway towards the library. As she saw the large shadow that she came from, only one thought formed in her head:

_ If I make it back to the Ruin, he’ll continue to follow me, but I have no other choice! _

Tenko shut her eyes as she jumped through the shadows, the sounds of the gun drowning out in the murky darkness.

\---

Maki stepped into the open field. When she first ran through the Dragon Door, she had expected to find herself in the same summer humidity and the overgrown forest that they had first stepped into, but she was surprised at the wet coolness on her face as she looked up at the moon. She shook her head before running into the forest.

_ No time to think about it. I need to find Korekiyo’s soul before Rantaro comes here, but I have no idea where the dragon’s cave is. _

She focused on pushing through the forest brush, but she soon pressed herself behind a tree as she heard a bout of laughter nearby.

“-at’s when I told her: If I need someone to nag me, I might as well live with my mom!” 

Another roar of laughter ripped from the forest as Maki looked beyond her hiding spot. From a small oil lamp were two older men pissing in the corner, chortling loudly as they swayed with drunken glee.

_ Great. Drunkards… Wait, weren’t those two part of the band of thieves? _

She squinted as she got a closer look at them, recognizing them as the two brutes who held Miu and Kiibo hostage when the whole class was ambushed. As the two struggled to buckle their belts, Maki eyed the soft silver gleam of the knife that was hanging from one of the men’s coats. She found herself sneaking through the trees with careful precision before she even realized it, but when she found herself within distance of the knife, she striked.

It only took a quick moment for her to wretch the thief’s hand behind his back and snatch the swaying knife, holding it up to the man’s neck as she forced him to arch his back to make up for the difference in height. 

“Ey! What you doin’ to mah best frien?” The other one slurred as he fumbled to grab his own knife.

“Lead me to the dragon’s cave and drop your weapon, and I won’t hurt him.” 

Maki made sure to press the knife even closer to the drunkard’s neck, not enough pressure to break skin but enough to make the man stiffen up in her grasp.

‘J-Just do what the girl says!” the man blubbered to his friend.

There was a moment of silence before the other man threw the knife at his feet, glaring at the Assassin the entire time. Maki ignored the malice before throwing the large man to the ground and grabbing the thrown knife.

_ This might be useful to me later. _

She pocketed the knife before turning to the two thieves with the other knife in hand.

“Lead me to the cave now, and make it fast. I can’t wait for long.”

The two men walked back into the forest as Maki followed close behind. She was slightly surprised that the thieves had no fight within them, but perhaps it was for the better. Afterall, she had to enter a dragon’s cave as she was being chased by a gun-wielding Adventurer. She could only hope that she wouldn’t run into him in the cave. 

“So, uh, miss?” one thief spoke up, “Why exactly do you- uh- want to go into the dragon’s cave?”

“I need to find something important in there.” she replied back, ducking behind an overhanging branch.

“It wouldn’t happen to be a certain sword, right?”

The other thief elbowed his friend in the stomach, glaring with his eyes to tell him to shut up.

“No, I’m looking for something else.”

_ The soul of my dead classmate, but I can’t really tell them that. _

“Oh, well… Good luck to you.”

Maki watched as his friend swung an arm around his shoulder and whispered in his ear, but perhaps they were too drunk to realize that Maki could still hear them.

“Wh-Wh-Why do you keep asking her questions?” 

“I don’t know… I just wanted to know why she still wanted to go in considering,” the thief brought his voice slightly lower, “we already stole the knight’s sword.”

“Heh, crazy bitch is going to find out that there’s nothing valuable in that blind dragon’s cave. She’s going to get burnt by a crisp the moment she walks in.”

Maki grimaced as the two failed to keep in their laughs.

_ So the dragon’s blind? It probably relies on it’s hearing then. I should be careful when I walk inside. _

“We’re here.”

One of the thieves said as they entered a clearing. Maki was expecting to see a hole carved into the rock, but she was surprised to see a huge door that took up half of the mountain and the mounds of gold lying inside. She could feel her heart beating faster in her chest, but she turned around to face the men stoically.

“Thank you. You guys can go now.”

She watched as the two thieves turned back into the forest, giggling gleefully about the Assassin’s charred demise, and not even caring that they were going back with no weapons. Maki turned back to the cave as she took several deep breaths.

_ If I want to meet up with the others soon, I need to finish this as fast as I can! _

She broke into a quiet sprint as she ran through the open doors. 

\---

Maki hid behind a large golden shield as she peered out. She had easily made it halfway through the room, but had spotted Korekiyo’s red soul floating idly on top of the huge golden mountain in the back of the cavern.

_ Of course he’s all the way up there! Jeez, I wondered how he got up there in the first place. I shouldn’t stall anymore. If Rantaro comes here, it could get really bad for me.  _

She left her spot to start silently sprinting down the room. She watched closely to see if the black scaley mass in front of her would start moving, but she soon found herself safely at the base of the mound of gold coins. 

_ If I get up this way, the dragon would definitely hear me climb. Is there any other way I can get up? _

She looked around, spotting a hung thick tapestry that reached all the way up to the ceiling. An idea popped in her head as she took out the second knife. She quietly walked over to the tapestry, having to step over a purple scale, as she looked all the way up.

_ It’ll probably take me about 5 minutes to climb this, but I think I can jump down onto the top with no problem. _

She breathed slowly as she stabbed the tapestry with one of the knives. She jostled the handle around, pleased to see it keeping it’s position in the thick fibers. 

_ Now to test if it can carry my weight. _

She stabbed her other knife in the tapestry above her before quickly removing the first knife and stabbing it above the other. She looked down at the inch of space between her feet and the floor.

_ Good. _

She carefully climbed the tapestry using the knives as climbing blocks, and as soon as she reached the peak of the golden mountain she carefully removed one of the knives and plopped down gently onto the gold coins. She looked over the edge of the mountain, looking down at the sleeping form of the dragon.

_ I’m in the clear. _

Korekiyo’s soul was only an arm's reach away, bobbing in the air slowly as red embers sparked into the air. Taking the net from the waistband of her skirt, she gripped it tightly as she stared deeply at the soul. 

Memories of the masked boy ran through her head. The two had rarely talked to one another, but she always had a strong impression of the intelligent and sometimes off-standing teen. At the beginning of the year, she had always noted how the Anthropologist would leave almost immediately after class ended, assuming that he was attending to some important anthropology business, but she soon found out that he would rush to the hospital every single day to visit his ill sister. 

_ But his sister died 2 months ago… I wonder if I save Korekiyo here, would he be happy?  _ She gripped the net even tighter as she edged closer to the soul,  _ Korekiyo, we may not have been friends and you probably didn’t even like me, but… I hope you get to see your sister again. You deserve that much. _

With a quick swipe of her wrist, the soul exploded into a million pieces at the touch of the net, surrounding Maki in a whirlpool of happy memories of his life. While most compromised of his work or his sister, she found herself staring at a few floating memories of the class or certain classmates as his eyes were upturned in cheerful half lidded moons.

When the images had completely disappeared, Maki felt a certain sadness in her soul knowing that would probably be the last time she would ever see the masked teen again. She looked out at the entire cavern before her.

_ I should leave now. There’s no point in staying here anymore. _

Remembering the cheerful look in the Anthropologist’s eyes, Maki took a deep breath before beginning her descent down.

\---

Maki ran through the forest, trying to remember the way back to the door. Worry filling in her head with every step she took.

_ How much time do we have left? I feel like it’s been at least 30 minutes since the timer started, but I haven’t seen him at all! Has he caught someone yet? _

The gruesome image of Kaito laying on the floor with a bullet wound in his head ran through her mind. 

_ No! I can’t think like that! I need to focus on getting Hoshi’s soul now! _

Maki jumped over a log as she spotted a glimpse of the stone doors straight ahead. She ran up to it, stopping herself before she entered.

_ I shouldn’t be too careless. He could be waiting for us to appear at the Ruins. I can’t recklessly run in there, but I shouldn’t give him an opportunity to catch me. I should run directly to the room I need to go. Ryoma’s soul should be in the Octopus room. If I just make a straight line for the Octopus room, I think I’ll be fine. If not… _

Maki eyed the knife in her hand, inspecting the soft gleam in the moonlight. She never wanted to use her talent against her classmates, but the stakes were too high for her to care about the morality of it. With a strong push, she charged through the stone doors.

\---

When Maki had entered the Ruins, she was surprised to find that no one else was there as well.

_ Coast is clear. Let’s g- _

A loud burst ripped through the air as Tenko emerged from the shadows as if she was coming out of the ocean. The girl stood on her feet frantically, her eyes meeting with the Assassin.

“Maki run! Rantaro is right behin-!”

Another burst ripped through the air as Rantaro appeared from another nearby shadow, his gun pointing straight at the Aikido Master’s head. Maki could feel her chest tighten as the world slowed around her

[Maki has found herself in a troubling situation! Should she use this opportunity and run to her next room? Should she fight back against Rantaro and attempt to kill him? Or should she save Tenko from getting shot?]

> Run into the next room

> Fight against Rantaro

> Save Tenko

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> VOTE BELOW:  
> https://linkto.run/p/PCGSTJX3
> 
> I am honestly super curious to see how you guys will vote this time, and I'm kind of excited to see how the ending will turn out! Tell me your guy's fears, predictions, comments, questions, and so much more about this chapter! Your comments really do mean a lot to me, and they help me during the writing process! Either way, I'm so happy for everyone who has been with me this entire time!


	35. Chapter 11.6: Kokichi's Hunt

The world slowed down for Maki as Rantaro’s slim finger wrapped around the trigger of the gun, the barrel pointing straight at the Aikido Master’s head as she ran for a door. Her jaw clenched tight as she gripped the handle of the knife,

_ Godammit… _

**Maki decided to [Save Tenko]**

With a quick swipe of her hand, she threw the knife towards the Adventurer. The sound of a gunshot shattered through the air as the bullet embedded itself into the wall next to Tenko. Maki raced towards the Aikido Master as Rantaro fell to the ground, the blood seeping out from his fingers as he held his wounded left eye. 

“C’mon! Let’s go!” 

She pulled the Aikido Master towards a random door, pushing her through before looking back, seeing the pitiful figure of the fallen Adventurer as he struggled to get up on his feet.

She stepped through the door, unsure of where they were going or what they were going to do from then on, but she knew that they were going to be safe.

\---

Kokichi huffed as he stared at the frozen statue of Gonta. He grimaced at the soft kind smile on his face,

_ I’m sorry. Kokichi must have been lonely this entire time... _

The giant’s last words rang in his head as he looked down at the ground, tears threatening to break the surface.

_ How humiliating. Crying over an idiot. Let’s just get this over with. _

_ Oh, Kokichi, there is no shame in crying! Gentlemen should always be true with their feelings _

He ignored Gonta’s voice in his head, looking around the circular room. Nothing seemed different. It was still the same dark and cold stone room, but being the only alive person in it made shivers run down the Supreme Leader’s back. 

_ It’s just one room. Where could his soul be? _

He turned around the room once again, seeing nothing that looked like a soul. He could feel the tension rising in his shoulder as he caught a glimpse of the marble statue’s smile,

“What? You think this is funny? Is that it? This is your final laugh? Is this the payback after using and making fun of you this entire time? You hide and wait for Rantaro to come to blow my brains out? Are we going to spend all eternity together in this hellhole?”

Kokichi could feel his head whirl as he grasped his head within his arms. The same clawing suffocation from when Shuichi died ripped all the air from his lungs and left him with endless despair. How could he expect to save his friends soul when he was the one who sent them to their deaths?

Memories of their school days popped in his head. His heart filled with guilt as he remembered every snide comment and every annoying prank that he pulled on his supposed friends. 

_ Maybe there’s a reason why people hate me…  _

He roughly wiped away his tears on his sleeves before turning away from the marble statue.

_ Feeling sorry for myself will do nothing. I need to move forward. Now where could that big oaf be? _

His eyes rested on the writing underneath the same giant angel who condemned Gonta to his death:

“Whatever you desire is seen when one opens their heart to the truth.” 

_ I don’t remember that… Is the writing different? _

He recalled that the original writing was something about truth and seeing? He couldn’t be sure, but he remembered the massive eye roll he did after reading that shit. 

_ This is the only thing in this room that’s different… Open my heart to the truth? Mmmmm no. I don’t like that.  _

He grimaced as he read the words. This entire time he’s been running from the truth, but there was no avoiding it this time. He turned back awkwardly to the statue of Gonta.

_ Just say the truth. No one else is here so it should be fine. _

The thought of Rantaro bursting through the door as he was apologizing to a statue of his dead classmate almost made him want to jump off a bridge. He decided that he was going to make it as fast as he could.

“Uh… Gonta? It’s me… Ya boy… I just wanted to say,” he took a deep breath in, “I miss you?”

He looked around, expecting to see some glowing light peeking from some corner, but he groaned when nothing happened.

_ Aghhh! What more do you want from me? _

He took another deep breathe in before continuing,

“And I’m really sorry for making fun of you all the time. If I knew what would’ve happened… I would have… Been nicer?” the guilt settled in his stomach again as the memories flooded in his head,”No… I probably wouldn’t, because I do this to everyone… I harass, and make fun of, and lie to everyone. Even the people I care most about… I don’t even know why I do it, but… Why did you decide to be my friend?”

Kokichi started to pace back and forth, lost in his rambling,

“Were you actually that stupid that you never noticed that I was bullying you? Or did you actually want to be friends with me? I don’t know how you could still forgive me after I basically left you to die in the Bomb room? I don’t understand how you could be so nice and trusting!” 

Kokichi’s voice broke at the last word, not even realizing that he was screaming at the stone or the tears that were running down his face. He wanted nothing more than to just lie down and cry until his lungs gave out. 

As he wiped his tears and snot away, something landed on the bridge of his nose. Kokichi yelped as he scrambled back, his hands swatting at what he thought was a bug. It wasn’t until he opened his eyes that he saw the small yellow light flying around him, almost like an enthusiastic firefly was buzzing beside him.

_ Gonta.... _

He grabbed the net from his pocket, reminding him of the days he was dragged to the nearby forest by the Entomologist to catch insects. The tiny soul flew in front of the Supreme Leader, waiting patiently to be caught by the net. Kokichi chuckled as he inched towards the soul,

“I-I guess it was always your nature to be kind. Even right now, you’re so nice to me… Thank you, Gonta, for being my friend.” 

Gonta’s soul exploded into a million pieces the moment it came in contact with the net. The entire room was illuminated in it’s bright light as Kokichi watched the memories swarm around him. His breath caught in his throat as he saw himself making fun of the large teen.

_ What an idiot… Even when I was making fun of him, it was a happy memory.  _

When the lights had disappeared, Kokichi felt all the tension in his shoulders melt. He approached Gonta’s marble statue before removing his beloved scarf and wrapping it around the statue’s neck. 

“Maybe if you’re lucky, moths will come and you’ll have new friends.”

He took one last look at his friend’s face before leaving the room.

\---

When he stepped back into the Ruins, he was surprised to see the splash of blood on the ground and the bullet hole in the wall. 

_ Shit. Something bad must’ve happened here, I need to go. The next should be Miu, Kiibo, and Kirumi. _

He ran towards the Bomb room, disappearing within its blackness without realizing that someone else had stepped into the Ruins at the same time. 

\---

When Kokichi had stepped through the door, he found himself surrounded by large rusty walls. 

_ What the hell is this place? It’s so creepy here! _

He looked around his surroundings, realizing that it looked to be the entrance of a maze. He grimaced as he knew that he would have to enter to find all three of his classmates' souls.

_ Shit. This is gonna take a while, isn’t it? _

\---

“Miuuuuu! Kiiiiboooo! Moooooommm!” 

Kokichi leaned against the wall and groaned. 

_ I’ve been in this place for the past 10 minutes, and I haven’t even seen anyone. Jeez, why did they all have to die here? _

A nagging voice in his head said “ _ Because of you, idiot”,  _ but he quickly knocked it to the side as he saw something electric blue dart down the approaching lane. Kokichi gripped onto his net before running down the lane and turning right.

_ There it is! That’s a soul! _ __   
  


He watched from the corner as the soul moved down the rusted hallway, almost floating in a slow mechanical sense as it bobbed oddly in the air. 

_ That has to be Kiibo! I should sneak up from behind and catch him. _

Kokichi slowly sneaked behind the electric blue soul with his net raised in the air. He would’ve loved to have a nice conversation with the robot, but he wasn’t too sure if the soul would try to run away from him. Just as the soul turned around the corner, he swung his net down, exploding the soul in a million pieces.

_ Wow… Kiibo had a really boring life. A lot of this is just Miu and his dad. _

He stared at one memory where the entire class were playing dodgeball for PE. From Kiibo’s perspective, he saw himself boast to a tired Saihara about how good he was at dodgeball before being pelted by a barrage of balls from the other team. 

He looked around at other memories, seeing more memories of himself failing or embarrassing himself. 

_ Damn, Kiibo really didn’t like me, I guess.  _

When the lights disappeared, Kokichi felt a slight anger burning in his soul as he stared back down the lane, seeing a perfectly pink soul waiting on the other end.

“Mi-!”

As soon as he yelled, Miu’s soul bolted around the corner. 

_ God, that fucking bitch! _

He raced towards the direction of the soul, seeing it rapidly travel down the hallway. Every single time he would turn a corner, Miu’s soul was already turning on the next. As he was chasing it down, he thought he was hearing footsteps somewhere around him.

He ignored the noise, cornering the soul into a dead end. As Miu’s soul shriveled itself in the corner, Kokichi could feel the guilt riding in his stomach as he approached closer.

“Miu...I don’t know if you can recognize me, but it’s me. Kokichi,” the soul jumped even further away at the sound of his name, “And I know that doesn’t mean a lot, but I promise that I’m trying to help you. Please, Miu, let me help you.”

He inched closer to the hesitant soul, holding the net in front of it. Kokichi held his breath, wondering if she was gonna book it again, but Miu’s pink soul lightly bumped its head against the net before exploding into memories.

Kokichi saw a lot more inappropriate things than he was expecting, but he felt a certain warmth in his body as he stared at the fun memories between him and the Inventor. They may not have liked each other for the most part, but they certainly were still friends.

_ Maybe that pig wasn’t so ba- _

A giant close up to a robotic dildo flew by Kokichi’s face as his smile fell.

_ Nevermind. She’s actually disgusting. Goodbye, you disgusting ugly cow. _

As he walked away from the dead end, he felt a part of him ache. He looked down at the ground,

_ Now all I need to get is Kiru- _

The Supreme Leader stopped in his tracks as he looked at the shadow on the ground. Peeking out from the corner was the shadow of a long pipe sticking out of a fluff of hair. He immediately pressed himself to the wall, 

_ Shit! Rantaro is already here, and I still have to find Kirumi! I don’t know if I can escape if he’s right around the corner, but if I make him wait he’ll just come into the dead end and shoot me.  _

Kokichi bit the inside of his lip before looking down at the golden net in his hand. 

_ I think I know what to do. _

Kokichi unstuck himself from the wall and walked a few spaces forward. He dropped to one knee and smacked the ground with the net,

“Aw fuck! Stupid ground...”

Just as expected, the Adventurer popped from his hiding place, ready to shoot the Supreme Leader but he wasn’t expecting the shorter teen to charge him and ram the net into his side. With a strained yelp, he fell backwards as Kokichi ran down the hallway.

“I would really love to stay, but I got places to be!” he yelled as he turned the corner.

Kokichi sprinted down the hallway, choosing to turn at the first left corner he saw. 

_ Shit. Shit. Shit! I knew I heard footsteps earlier! God, how could I ignore that? I need to find Kirumi now! _

Kokichi’s nerves jumped at the sound of gunshot behind him. He turned his head, seeing the Adventurer following a few yards behind. As he made a right turn, he saw the drying blood that covered the left side of his face.

_ The blood from earlier is probably from him… Hopefully he got injured enough that his aim is off. _

He continued to run, looking into all of the open hallways until he saw something purple drift down the opposite hallway. He traced back and turned the corner before another barrage of bullets fired into the open air. 

Just like a baseball player, Kokichi wound up his arm before smashing the net against the purple soul. It exploded on impact, surrounding Kokichi in a wave of happy memories from the Maid’s life. He felt a tad bit bad for not appreciating the last moments of her life as he ran past the shards of memories and the sound of gunshots followed soon after.

_ I got everyone! I just need to find the exit! Where the hell is it?  _

It felt like an eternity just running in the maze. Every time he thought he lost the Adventurer, he would show up from another corner. It was a tiring game of cat and mouse until the Supreme Leader caught sight of the exit down the hall.

_ The exit is right there, but that asshole would just follow me on the other side! Fuck! What do I do? _

[Kokichi is being chased by Rantaro! Should he run out and seek safety in another room? Should he not go through the exit and hide among the maze? Or should he go through the exit and attempt to ambush Rantaro?]

> Run Into a Random Room

> Hide in Maze

>Ambush Rantaro

**VOTE BELOW!**

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> VOTE BELOW:  
> https://linkto.run/p/6CGDTJX3
> 
> This week's chapter is a little bit spicy because "hint hint" one of these options is very good, and may change the entire story. It was actually recommended by a few of you guys earlier, and I wonder if you can actually guess what could happen?
> 
> I would love to know what you guys voted on and your future predictions! 
> 
> Other than that, see y'all next week!


	36. Chapter 14: Tied Fates

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> A very spicy episode :)

With the sounds of his own feet pounding in his head, he shut his eyes as he continued to run.

_ This better work! _

**[Kokichi decided to Run Into Another Room]**

He held his breath as he barged into the Ruins, hearing a muted storm of bullets hitting the closed stone doors behind him. 

_ I need to leave before he gets here! _

Without any thought in mind, he decided to take the second door on his left. Shutting the door closed just as the green-haired teen stepped into the Ruins.

\---

Kokichi hesitantly backed away from the door, his body waiting to sprint away the moment it cracked open, but after waiting for a few minutes he finally let out a breath of relief.

_ Phew! I thought I was done for!  _

He walked up to the door, his finger slightly pushing the door, before he stopped.

_ How can I be so sure that he hasn’t left the Ruins left? I should hang around here until the time runs out. Good thing I caught all of the souls! _

The Supreme Leader walked away from the door, spotting a nice tree to lie under. When he circled around the tree, he was surprised to find that it was on a rocky ledge. He looked beyond the mountain that he was on, seeing an endless sea of trees.

_ Where am I? I don’t recognize this place at all. _

He looked over the side to the left, seeing a trail that led to an open field. He wondered at why it looked so familiar until he finally remembered!

_ Now I know it! This is where we played against each other! No one died here so Rantaro probably wouldn’t try going here. _

The purple haired teen chuckled to himself as he applauded himself. He quickly got up to his feet,

_ Let’s go exploring! I’ll only get bored staying in one place! _

He decided to follow the trail leading up the mountain. He wasn’t too keen on going back to the empty field, and settled on taking the hard uphill climb. After struggling to overstep a large stone, he could feel his chest heaving for air.

_ Holy crap! Shuichi really climbed this? How did a weakling like him make it? _

He remembered the moments that he would look out a stray window or a nearby building to see the Detective heaving in the corner after supposedly “losing” him in a chase. Sometimes, when he was feeling generous, he would even slow down for the Detective during their weird cat and mouse games.

A frown settled on his face as he continued to walk, pushing the memory out of his brain. He kicked a pebble watching it tumble off the trail and embedding itself in an ant hill.

_ “They won’t hurt you! Ants are our good friends!” Gonta smiled as he gently scooped a few ants into a glass jar.  _

_ “No way am I getting near those icky bugs!” Kokichi grimaced, wondering why he even agreed to join Gonta and Miu to collect ants. He looked over at Miu who was not-so-gently shoveling ants and dirt in her jar, “And why are you so interested in ants all of a sudden?” _

_ “None of your damn business, midget! But if you aren’t gonna help us collect ants then…” _

_ The Supreme Leader yelped as he was grabbed by the front of his shirt as he was dragged forward towards the Inventor. He was angry for a split second before the feeling of dirt and bugs ran down his chest and into his shorts. _

He remembered shoving the girls face in the Ant Hill shortly after as Gonta desperately tried to separate them. He wiped his forehead as a tall gate out of stone appeared in front of him. He pushed against it, not budging the doors in the slightest.

_ Damn, closed. But they’re totally underestimating me if they think this will keep me out! _

Kokichi took a step back, seeing the decorative holes that lined the middle of the gates. He rubbed his hands together before latching himself to the walls, carefully using the eroded cracks in the wall to make his way towards the holes. As soon as he brought himself close to the hole, he shimmied himself through it, hoping that he wouldn’t get stuck half way through. He was fairly lucky to reach the ground safely.

_ Now if Rantaro does come here, there is no way that he can follow me! I’m safe! _

Kokichi giggled to himself as he continued to walk forward on the rocky trail. His mind travelling through memories of the past: the time he volunteered as Himiko’s assistant for the talent show at school, the time he referred a tennis match between Hoshi and Angie, the time he was forced to wear a maid dress by Tsumugi as Kirumi played a butler, the time he had accidentally ruined a really important sword in Korekiyo’s lab, the time that he attended Kiibo’s and Kaede’s terrible attempt at an idol show. He didn’t even notice that he had entered a dark cave until a soft glowing green light caught his eye.

_ What the hell is this place? _

He slowly went down the stone stairs, eyeing the ceiling high shelves lined with bottles. A part of him screamed at him to leave, and yet his curiosity forced him to continue walking. In the middle of the room was a large black cauldron, a table, and a smaller empty shelf. He circled around the table, seeing a poorly drawn book lying open on the table. As he was about to reach for it, a voice spoke up from the darkness.

“Another dirty pest has wandered into my cave once again… This is getting quite troublesome.”

Kokichi’s eyes widened as the frightening figure of the witch descended down the stairwell. He bit on his cheek, his mind rapidly thinking of ways to escape. He willed on tears to fall down his face as he pathetically wiped them away,

“I-I promise I won’t be here for too long! I’m just hiding from someone who wants to hurt me, and if he finds me then-”

“You’ll become the newest Ruin Keeper.” 

Kokichi immediately stopped crying as he stared at the Witch.

“I have already been aware of your party’s circumstances for some time, and I have already been informed of your lying tendency, so don’t think that those fake tears will work on me. Now leave my cave.”

He wiped away the final tear as he smiled cockily,

“Well, I’d much rather be dead than be some shitty Ruins Keeper,” he lied, “What happened to that bravado from before when you tried killing us all?”

“I will admit I may have let my emotions go too far that one time, but I do not take thievery too lightly. In the end, no one could escape their fate. Not even the Princess. There are very few happy endings in this world.”

Kokichi could feel himself twitch in irritation as he continued to smile, but he noted at the tinge of sadness in her voice as she mentioned the deceased Detective. 

“Is that so? Talking from experience, huh?” Kokichi giggled to himself as the Witch sneered at him, “But I’m confused. Weren’t you the one who let them both live? This entire game, this entire place, is your territory. How did you not know there was a loophole in your game?

“Leave. Leave right now.” she snarled at him, but he only continued to press forward.

“Let’s be honest, you purposefully left a loophole in your game because you felt an ounce of pity for us. You claim that you hate humans so much, and yet two were able to escape so easily. I even bet that you knew that Shuichi was alive because one thing I know is that Kaito is a terrible liar! Something must’ve made you hate humans all of a sudden, something you lost-”

“What do you think you achieve from telling me this?” 

“A plea for your empathy,” the Supreme Leader turned to the lines of lines of potions on the walls, “If one of your potions can fake a person’s death then you surely should have one that can bring someone back from the dead.”

“And why would I give it to you?”

Kokichi stared back at the witch, the lights of the potions illuminating behind him,

“No reason in particular, but there are good humans out there. Far better than me, and those who deserve to live,” the memories of the past flooded in his mind, “S-so please… I-I would do anything to make things right again.”

He could feel something catch in his throat as he watched the Witch silently think things over. In his head, he was beating himself up for saying something so cliche. A loud sigh took him out of his thoughts,

“Very well. Peter, bring the book and the ingredients needed.”

A small black imp wearing overalls and an oversized hat spawned next to the Witch,

“Alright! I’ll be right back!” 

Kokichi watched as the flames spontaneously burst underneath the pot as Peter flitted around the room, throwing random herbs, potions, and animal parts in the pot. The Supreme Leader grimaced at the floating bat wings.

“Now, for the final ingredient, I need something very important.”

The teen snorted, “What, you need an eye of newt or something?”

“Along those lines… I need your eye.”

Kokichi’s smile dropped off his face as he stared at the Witch who was mindlessly stirring the pot, “Wh-What?”

“You said that you would do anything, and for this potion to work I need your eye. You see, a soul that has died can’t simply be brought back. To be brought back, it requires energy assistance so merging that soul to another living soul will give it enough energy to survive on its own. Of course, you two will live as two separate entities but your souls and your fates are connected to one another. If one dies, the other one dies as well. If one of you guys becomes a Ruins Keeper, the other one will be as well. So what is your choice?”

A dagger plopped itself in Kokichi’s lap. He trembled as he picked it up, seeing his own eye reflecting in it’s silver gleam.

_ I can bring someone back, but I have to sacrifice my eye. Not only that, our fate is tied together. If one of us gets caught, both of us gets caught. Even if I go with it, who the hell should I choose? What the hell should I do? _

**Kokichi has finally found a way to resurrect one of his friends, but the consequences seem drastic! What should he do?**

**> Resurrect one of his friends**

**> Don’t go through with it**

**VOTE BELOW!**

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> VOTE BELOW:  
> https://linkto.run/p/0XR83PWO
> 
> If you guys are happy that we're getting a resurrection thank The_Mad_Lord and AVeryChaoticWriter because I actually forgot that there is a resurrection arc in the original Escape the Night! I feel like I know who you guys are gonna pick, but you guys always surprise me in the end.
> 
> Anyways, leave a comment below with who you chose to resurrect! I'd also love to know your thoughts on your chapter! We're getting there guys!


	37. Polling Disclaimer

Hey guys!

I was originally going to post this week's chapter as intended, but it didn't feel right. I really appreciate the huge blow-up of comments and votes from the last chapter, but just like a lot of you guys, I realized that there was something very wrong with the poll. As much as I hope that there were 700+ people reading this, I highly doubt it. 

I'm really sorry for keeping y'all waiting, but I'm sure that we would all appreciate the population's true vote. I will collect all of the votes and post the next chapter sometime around Friday or Saturday, and the next chapter after that will be posted on Wednesday/Thursday (I have a really important test next Monday). 

This time the poll will only let a person have one vote, so it won't be too impacted. I want to thank every single one of you for making it this far! I love reading your comments and I hope you guys keep reading! At the end of the entire story, I will be posting all the different decisions and little side notes that came from this story so you will see what would've happened if this poll had actually gone through!

**Vote Below:**

**[Kokichi has finally found a way to resurrect one of his friends, but the consequences seem drastic! What should he do?]**

**> Resurrect one of his friends**

**> Don't go through with it**

https://linkto.run/p/3V9DMTK9


	38. Chapter 11.6: A New Hero Has Joined the Party!

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> When it comes to the polls, it was better, but I'm still a little unsure whether they were rigged or not so all I got to ask is please vote only once. I will try to experiment with different polling sites to try to fix this problem. 
> 
> Hopefully, you guys enjoy this week's chapter!

The witch stared down at the troubled teen, mindlessly stirring the cauldron as the knife trembled in his lap, “Have you made up your mind?”

Kokichi looked up at her, “I-I-If I go through with it, is there any medicine I can use or to disinfect with? I-I don’t want to die right afterwards, you know.”

“Do not fear. Peter is already retrieving the things you will need.”

“Okay then… Here goes…”

With a shaky breath, Kokichi picked up the knife, examining his own reflection within it’s menacing gleam. He put a hand up to his left eye,

_ Goodbye, I guess. This will be the last time I’ll be able to see like this… _

Without hesitation, he pushed the knife in. A burning pain flooded his left eye as he screamed in pain. A part of him felt like he was on the verge of passing out, another yelled at him on why he did it in the first place, but all thoughts subsided when he yanked the knife away. He felt a sharp sting as the nerve snapped in two. 

He cradled his eye, feeling the blood pool between his fingers, as it dripped down his face and stained his white clothing. He struggled to open his other eye, seeing a hazy image of the witch in front of him, staring down at him with no remorse. With a shaky smirk, he held out the knife to her.

“H-H-Here. Take it. Wasn’t too bad.”

The witch took it, grimacing at the feeling of warm blood on cold metal in her hands. She plucked the eye from the knife before throwing it in the cauldron. As Peter finished wrapping the Supreme Leader’s eye with bandages and herbs, the witch continued

“Now, close your eyes, and think about the person you want to bring back. Visualize them in your mind, and when you open them they will be in front of you.”

Kokichi shut his eye as images flooded his mind, 

_ A striped black hat, bright gold eyes, dark blue hair, and- _

Sapphires. Bright blue sapphires burned itself into his mind as he hurled on the ground. He still couldn’t forget the frozen figure of the Detective as he clapped for a dead Pianist while staring with dead gemstone eyes. He wiped his mouth on his sleeve before forcing his eyes shut once more.

He tried to visualize his face once more, desperately trying to push the painful memories away. The dirtied sapphire becoming a simple blue gemmed accessory. The striped hat becoming more pointed than he remembered. The running blood becoming fine strands of hair.

A weak familiar voice rang from the darkness, “Wh-What’s going on? Kokichi?”

Kokichi's eyes flew open as he stared at the person in front of him.

“Wh-Wh-Why are you here?!” 

Himiko flinched as she gripped onto her hat, tears falling down her face.

“I-I don’t know… Last time I remembered I was in a dark room with Angie and-and…”

The girl fell to the ground with a deafening scream as the memories flooded back. Kokichi could only stare down at her in disbelief.

_ Re-Remembering Shuichi was probably too painful, so I brought back Himiko instead. I just wanted him back... _

Tears started to fall down his face, not even caring that the Magician was there, but even through the pain a wave of relief hit the teen. Before he even knew it, he dropped to his feet, pulling the girl into a tight hug. 

“I can’t believe I’m saying this to you, but I’m so glad that you’re back.”

He could feel Himiko tense up in his arms as she sat there in shock at the uncharacteristic display of affection. The warm embrace felt familiar as she remembered being held in someone’s hands as a happy yet sad voice spoke to her:

_ “Thank you, Himiko, for all the time that you’ve spent with me. I will cherish all the memories that we’ve had together.” _

She quickly pushed the Supreme Leader away: “Kokichi! I-Is Tenko still alive?”

He blinked in confusion, ignoring the flare of pain in his missing eye.

“Y-yeah… I think. Maybe? It’s a long story. Let me go ahead and catch you up on everything.”

Himiko listened intently as Kokichi relayed the events that had happened, her heart aching more and more with every single death that she heard. In the end, she found herself staring at her own lap. One hand brushing over the place where her missing hair clip was.

“Nyeh... This is a lot… So Rantaro is now hunting everyone down so that he can leave this place? And someone will have to take his spot?”

“Yeah… Pretty much.”

“So where is Tenko?”

“I don’t know. We all split up earlier, so I have no idea where the others are. All I know is that Tenko went to find yours and Angie’s souls.”

Kokichi didn’t expect Himiko to suddenly stand up with a determined look on her face. He was surprised that the girl could even look energized.

“We have to go find her! Tenko might be in danger!”

“Are you kidding?” Kokichi stood up as well, anger swelling up inside him, “I just brought you back, and you want to die again! Do you not remember what I just said? If you get caught then I get caught as well!”

“She risked her life to save me, so I have to go find her!”

Just as Kokichi was about to scream back, a soft voice spoke behind them.

“Excuse me, but I have to take off your bandages now.”

The Witch stepped into the room, holding something black on a small animal hide. Himiko stared at the beautiful yet ghastly woman as she walked up to Kokichi before carefully unbandaged his eye. She turned her head away when the last bits of fabric fell from his face, feeling her stomach squirm at the thought of the missing eye.

“There. This eye patch has certain magical properties that will heal the wound and numb the pain. Your eye won’t come back, but it’ll have to do.”

Kokichi touched the black and white eyepatch, feeling the leather underneath his fingertips as a cold soothness washed over the empty space. He turned to his right to see Himiko’s amazed face staring at the eyepatch.

“What a high level healing item!” she beamed, “It’s nothing like my Eye of Healing, but it’s still a high level spell!”

“Oh? So you happen to partake in magic as well?” The Witch asked, now deeply interested in the young teen,

“Yeah, I’m a pretty high level Mage where I come from,” she boasted, “Be amazed as you feast your eyes on this!”

With a flick of her hand, 3 white doves popped out from her sleeve and flew out of the cave. Kokichi stared at her in disbelief,

“Himiko, she’s blind.”

“Nyeh~ What? I didn’t know that…”

“No, it’s fine, but a conjuring spell? I thought I was the only Witch left…” A small smile rested on the woman’s face, “Peter, bring us the Book of Dimensions.”

Peter popped right next to the Witch, holding a heavy book in his hands as he plopped it on the table. With a wave of her hand, the book opened up, settling on a certain page of a map.

“This map is the Ruins that you once came from. I can’t let you take it, but it will show you where your friends are. Both dead and alive.”

Kokichi and Himiko stared at the page. Not only was it littered with the names of their friends, there were brightly colored dots on the map as well.

“Tenko is with Maki! They’re in the Kraken room!” Kokichi pointed, he looked at the bright black dot on the page, “They’re probably getting Ryoma’s soul.”

“I’m glad that she’s still safe, but if the dots are souls then there are two souls left. I wonder why Tsumugi’s name is write-”

The two jumped as the black dot suddenly disappeared from the page, rising in the air as small wisps of smoke.

“It seems that your friend’s soul was set free,” The Witch said, “Now two remain.”

“That means Kaito hasn’t caught any souls! I knew that idiot couldn’t handle it!” the Supreme Leader fumed before seeing something terrifying on the page, “And shit! Rantaro is heading that way too!”

“And Tenko and Maki are going there too! What are they doing?”

Kokichi bit his thumb, “That crazy bitch is probably going to try to help her boyfriend! Those idiots are going to get caught!”

“We have to find them!” Himiko cried, “We have to go help them! They’re all in danger!”

Just as Himiko turned to leave, a hand wrapped around her arm as she was pulled back.

“Himiko, if we go. We will  _ die _ .” Kokichi seethed through his teeth,

“If we don’t go, all of our friends will get caught including the souls who haven't been saved.” she glared back.

**[Kokichi and Himiko have come to a stand still as their friends march to what could be their deaths. Should the two stay where they are and be safe or should they go out and help their classmates?]**

**> Stay at the cave**

**> Go and Help**

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> VOTE BELOW:  
> http://www.strawpoll.me/42495781/r
> 
> Himiko has joined the party! All we need is Ryoma and then we got the Tiny Tot Trio (but sadly he's dead)! 
> 
> I'm honestly really curious on what you guys think about this chapter and how you guys voted! Do you guys think that this is going to end as a bloody match or do you think it's going to end up really well? Your comments mean a lot to me and I would love to see what you guys will vote next time!


	39. Chapter 11: Kaito's Split Hunt

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I'm so sorry that this chapter was so late! I've been overwhelmed with a lot of things lately. I've been reading all of your comments, and I can't be happier that you guys are so invested in this story, but I'm so sorry that I wasn't more attentive when it came to polls. I've been juggling with the idea to do a rewrite of the Resurrection, but who knows (let me know what you guys want)? 
> 
> Anyways, hopefully, you enjoy this chapter!

The self-proclaimed Mage glared at the boy in front of her. Her resolution strong as she stood her ground,

“Himiko, how stupid can you honestly be?” Kokichi spat, catching her off guard as she stepped back “You don’t know anything about this place or any of the rooms we’ve been in. What do you think you can do to help Tenko?”

She looked to the side, finding herself unable to look at the intense purple eye.

“Well… I can use my mag-!”

“Just quit the act, Himiko. There’s nothing we can do to help them. It’s better for us to just stay here rather than get in their way.” 

Kokichi watched as tears started to form in the girl’s eyes as she looked to the ground in frustration. A part of him hated himself for making the newly resurrected girl cry, but he shrugged it off as he headed to take a seat on the bench behind her.

_She’ll thank me later when we get out of this place._

“I-I may not be able to do much to help, but I still want to try… B-Because Tenko tried so hard to save me. She risked her life to save me. I want to repay her...”

Kokichi rolled his eyes: “Himiko, if you really want to repay Tenko then the best choice is to stay here. There’s no point in getting killed again even for her sake, so stop being selfish and let’s just wait out the time.”

“You stop being selfish!” Himiko yelled, “All you want to do is save yourself! But if Rantaro catches them, not only will we lose them, we won’t be able to save Kaede, Tsumugi, or Shuichi!”

Even though tears started falling down her face, she continued to stare into his soul with determination and anger. Kokichi reverted his eyes away,

_If all three do get caught, Shuichi will be trapped here forever?_

A bitter taste flooded Kokichi’s mouth as he thought about the Detective being forever trapped in the lonely Ruins, immortalized in an eternal silent concert. He sighed heavily,

“Fine, let’s go help them. I’m already getting bored just standing in this dumb cave.”

**Himiko and Kokichi decided to [Go and Help]**

Himiko brightened up at the sound of those words. She quickly grabbed Kokichi’s hand as she started dragging him out of the cave.

“Then there’s no time to waste! Let’s go on the quest to save our friends!”

For the first time in what seemed like an eternity, the Supreme Leader felt warm reassurance in his heart as he walked beside the Magician. He could only hope that things would end up well in the end.

\---

The two soon found themselves standing in front of the large stone doors. 

“The moment that things turn bad, we’re leaving immediately.” Kokichi stated,

“It’s alright because my magic will protect us!” Himiko boasted, 

“Well, if that’s the case, you should be in front!” Kokichi smirked, “I’m so glad to have an all powerful witch with me!”

The girl’s face turned white at the thought: “Nyeh… Maybe we should just be careful when we walk in.”

The two walked through the open doors, finding themselves in the vintage style parlor. Kokichi could feel Himiko stiffen up beside him as they looked around the room. The bright floral wallpaper was torn all along the walls as the moldy looking pictures barely hung on. All of the furniture that was in the room were falling apart. The once melodious tune that played from the music box was now distorted as something black oozed from inside.

“W-What is this place?”

“This should be the Doll Room, but it wasn’t like this before.”

He looked over to the door, seeing a large hole, allowing him to see a part of the room on the other side. 

_Rantaro was already here…_

He cocked his head to the side, signaling that they should move on. They entered the Display Area, finding most of the displays untouched aside from the dark vines that curled around their feet and over the walls. He watched as Himiko ran up to the Fairy display, admiring the beautiful grace of the Doll inside.

“Wahhh, so pretty! It’s almost like she’s real!”

“Well, she was alive once.” 

“Nyeh?” Himiko turned to the Supreme Leader. He looked like he wanted to leave this place as soon as possible.

“Take a look for yourself. Turn around.”

Himiko froze when she saw the display behind her. 

“K-K-Kaede? Shu-Shuichi?” 

“Yeah…” Kokichi walked up to the pane of glass, grimacing at bloody sapphires in the Detective’s eyes,

_It should’ve been you… I’m sorry I was so weak…_

He felt a hand rest on his back as he turned around. Himiko awkwardly stood behind him: “I-I think we should go…”

Kokichi cleared his throat as he forced a smile, “Are you a telepath too, Himiko? Because that’s exactly what I was thinking! Let’s get out of this depressing place!” 

He walked past her, leading the Magician to the destroyed Ballerina display. Instead of the three passageways that was there before, there was now only one.

_This hallway is way too narrow and straight. We might be in trouble if Rantaro chases us here…_

He brought a finger to his lips before entering the dark hallway. It felt like almost an eternity until they finally arrived on the other side, but the closer they got, the sounds of a gun firing got louder. The two pressed themselves to the wall as they looked out the exit.

_It’s different here too…_

When Kokichi had first come to the stadium, he first noticed how bright the lights were as it shined down onto the metal bleachers, but now the stadium gave an abandoned feeling as the only source of light was the moonlight from outside. Another gunshot rang through the stadium, alongside an orange flash of light, as it illuminated the Adventurer’s menacing face as he walked into the wooden pillar portion of the obstacle course.

“Kokichi! Look! It’s Maki and Kaito!”

Kokichi looked over to where Himiko was pointing. Hiding behind two different pillars were Maki and Kaito, both looking desperate as they tried to stay hidden.

“I don’t see Tenko. Where is she?”

Rantaro continued to fire, aiming at a pillar at the bottom left corner instead of where the couple was. The Supreme Leader thought hard as bits and pieces of the wooden pillar were blown off.

_Shit, this can’t be good! If he’s not aiming at them then that would mean that Tenko is hiding behind the pillar! What can we do?_

Every single time a gunshot rang through the air, Kokichi felt like he was getting shot himself as he tricked to think of a plan. He soon spotted the barbed wire maze, and a horrid thought popped in his mind. He pulled the girl’s hand, leading her out of the hallway, as they crouched behind the small partition that separated the bleachers from the obstacle course. 

“Okay, things are looking really bad out there… We still need to find the souls and everyone is cornered by Rantaro, but he has no idea that we’re here, so here’s the plan... I’m going to go inside the obstacle course and take some of that barbed wire. I need you to go and find a way to turn on the lights.”

“Why do you need me to find the lights?”

“Because, Himiko, we’re going to ambush him. The lights and the TVs aren’t on which means that they must’ve been turned off. If we suddenly turn them all on that should give us an opportunity to catch him off guard. If that happens, we can all ambush him. So go. Shoo. And don’t get caught!”

The Magician grumbled as Kokichi soon left her, hopping over the partition, she raised her head to look over trying to find anything that looked like a switch.

_So I just need to find the lightswitch? Where do I find that?_

She closed her eyes, trying to think of all the places it could be. She faintly remembered the time the power blew out during one of her shows. It was so sudden and so terrifying that she held on tight to the closest person to her which happened to be a one of the stage technicians. The two of them awkwardly shuffled in the dark until she had finally figured out the lights again. She remembered the stage technician’s kind smile as she stood next to the metal power box.

_A power box… Those are typically not in plain view, right? Like in a separate hallway or room._

She peeked up from her spot, surveying the room for any other passages. Her eyes landed on the start of the obstacle course where a single dark hallway stood. 

_The power box should be in there right?_

She silently crept her way towards the hallway, but the closer she got, terror washed over her. She couldn’t reason it out, but there was something about the dark hallway that screamed malice. She shook her head, getting rid of all the negative thoughts,

_Tenko needs you! When I find the light, I’ll just run out._

As she ran into the darkness, Kokichi had finally gathered 3 separate ropes of barbed wire. He didn’t even notice how much his hands were bleeding as he pulled himself over the partition. He still kept his eye on the Adventurer, seeing him getting slowly closer to the wooden pillar.

_Now I need to get to Maki and Kaito._

He carefully crawled closer to the two before popping up from his hiding spot. He put a finger to his lips as Maki mouthed _“What are you doing here?”._ He quickly jumped over the partition once more before running over to where Kaito was. Maki quickly left her spot to join them.

“What are you doing here?” Maki spat,

“What happened to you, man?” Kaito asked, “Why are you all bloody? What happened to your eye?”

“It doesn’t matter!” he groaned, “What matters is that I have a plan to save your sorry asses and gives us time to save the souls. We have to get closer to Rantaro first, but when the lights turn on, we’re going to ambush him. But Maki, don’t try to kill him. If he dies, one of us will have to take his place as Ruins Keeper.”

“Isn’t that too reckless?” Maki said, “We don’t even know if the lights will tur-”

“It’s alright. Himiko is already on it. Now follow me.”

He didn’t bother to stay any further as he slowly stalked towards the Adventurer, darting from wooden column to column. The two hesitated as they followed him, each taking a different path to get closer to their pursuer. 

When they were finally close enough, Kokichi gave them a signal to wait. From his position, he could see Tenko’s terrified face as she desperately hid behind the nearly destroyed pillar. From the other side, Maki was the closest to Rantaro as Kaito could attack from his back.

_Now we just wait for Himiko to pull through._

He stared up at the lights, expecting them to turn on at any moment. He grimaced as another gunshot fired in the air.

_Shit! Don’t tell me that she hasn’t found it yet!_

He looked over at Tenko. Her wooden pillar had already been reduced to half its side. After a few more shots, she would finally be exposed. He bit the inside of his cheek as he looked up at the ceiling. 

_Goddammit Himiko! What is she doing?_   
  


As if it was magic, light washed over the stadium as strong lights blazed over. Everyone flinched as the sudden light flooded their senses.

“Go!” Maki yelled, leaving her pillar, and quickly throwing the barbed wire over the Adventurer’s neck.

Rantaro choked on the painful feeling of something sharp digging into his neck as he reached for the trigger. 

“Don’t you dare!” Kaito yelled,

A swift punch to the stomach was all it took for him to lose his grip on the gun as he fell to the ground in a daze. The three swarmed over him as they wrapped the unconscious teen in barbed wires. As Maki broke the gun, Kokichi tipped Rantaro’s head back in his hands to inspect his bloody neck.

“Jeez, Maki, what did I say about not killing him? Was it too hard for you to try not to kill anyone?” 

The Assassin rolled her eyes, “He’ll be fine. He shouldn’t be able to die from those wounds.”

Kaito grimaced at the state of the Adventurer. Deep inside him felt deep pity for him as he laid helplessly on the ground, breathing heavily as he bled from head to toe. He took a closer look at his face, not remembering the somewhat fresh cut on his left eye.

_Someone must’ve gotten him pretty good…_

A strong hand pushed the Astronaut aside as something blue collided into his girlfriend.

“Maki! Thank you! Thank you so much for saving me! I owe you my life!” Tenko cried into the Assassin’s neck.

“I-It’s okay! You don’t need to-!” she quickly pushed the other girl off of her, keeping her at a distance as her face burned a bright red, “But I’m glad you’re okay though. I honestly didn’t think we could all get away.”

“Yeah, so where’s my thanks?” Kokichi interrupted, “You know, I was the one who made the plan to save you!” 

“Yeah, I hate to admit it, but you really did save our asses out there.” Kaito reluctantly said, “But how did you know that the lights were going to turn on? You said something about Himiko?”

Tenko’s attention was immediately caught by the sound of her friend’s name. She instinctively reached up to touch the blue topaz hairpin in her hair.

“Well, it’s kind of a long story…” Kokichi stated, twirling a piece of his hair on his finger, “All you need to know is that Himiko is back. I sent her to turn the lights on.”

He didn’t expect to be grabbed so suddenly as he stared into green eyes: “Y-You aren’t lying? She’s back? Himiko is alive? Wh-Where is she?”

The thief bit back the urge to yell: “It’s a lie” as he squirmed in her unbelievably tight grasp. He knew that if he did that, she would have no qualms with squishing him like a bug, but he still had no idea what to tell her. He only told Himiko to turn on the lights, but no clue where that could’ve been.

“Uh- Well…”

“Ahem!” Monokuma’s voice yelled over the speakers, “Monokuma’s here to announce that you have 15 more minutes until the game is over! So be back in the Ruins before time runs out or else you’ll be stuck here forever!!”

The silence after the announcement was cut short as a high pitch scream cut through the air. Everyone turned their heads towards the sound, all feeling a chill go through their backs as they stared at the deep black hallway at the start of the obstacle course. They were all reminded of Kaede’s final moments as they watched her get pulled into the same hallway.

“Himiko!” Tenko yelled as she ran towards the dark hallway. 

Kaito rushed forward as well before being wretched back. He turned around, seeing Kokichi hold onto his arm as he pulled him back.

“Kokichi! What are you doing? Himiko is in trouble!” 

“I know! But we don’t have time!” Kokichi yelled, “We have 15 minutes before time is up, and we still have 3 souls to catch! Tenko will deal with Himiko, but we have to split up and find the other souls!” 

“I’ll stay here then and find Kaede,” Maki stated, “I’ll also look after Rantaro, but he won’t be a problem anymore since the gun is gone.”

Kaito pointed to himself: “Then I’ll get Shui-” 

“No.”

Anger flared in his chest as he stared down the Supreme Leader. This entire time he couldn’t wrap his head around why he was so attached to the Detective. Didn’t they hate each other? Weren’t they enemies? Why would he care so much for him? 

“I swear, Kokichi. I don’t know what you’re planning, but there’s no way in he-”

“Please Kaito…”

Kaito took a step back in surprise. Never in his life would he ever think that Kokichi Ouma would beg him for anything. He almost written it as another stupid lie, but the look of complete tiredness and desperation in his eyes made him drop it. All of a sudden, he saw the patches of dirt on his knees, the messy dirty hair, the streaks of dried blood trailing from below the leather eyepatch and onto his clothes. The childish and annoying kid he knew from before was gone, a piece of him stolen by the cursed Ruins, leaving behind a lonely and empty husk. 

“You know what? You’re right,” Kaito took a deep breath, “I’m the only one who knows where Tsumugi is anyways, but you better give him a proper farewell, okay?” 

The Supreme Leader nodded silently, whispering a small thank you before turning away. He looked back to the two, giving them a small smile.

“Alright then. I’ll see you guys in 15.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Personal Headcanon:  
> Kaito has a terrible gaydar if you haven't noticed lol (the man does not see)
> 
> Tell me what you guys think about this chapter! I'd love to know your thoughts (especially when it comes to maybe rewriting)! I have no braincells rn, so I'll see y'all next week!
> 
> Also, happy 1 year to this fic! Thank you guys for staying with me for this long! I'm surprised you guys were able to read a fic that's about the equivalent of a 205 page book.


	40. The Tale of 3 Reunions

Tenko ran her fingers alongside the wall as she rushed through the stone hallway, not even caring about the consuming darkness that surrounded her as she called out:

“Himiko! Himiko! Where are you!”

But there was no answer. 

She felt herself wobble against the wall, her head pounding in pain. It felt like the hallway stretched on forever, leaving her stranded in the despairing darkness to roam forever. She couldn’t even see the light of the exit anymore as loneliness and fear enveloped her heart and she trudged on.

_ Was this what Kaede felt? Is what happened to Kaede going to happen to Himiko? _

Tenko shuddered as she thought about the tiny Magician’s corpse being displayed in a glass box, possibly sawing a mannequin in half or flying over a crowd, smiling through blue topaz eyes. She picked up the pace before stepping into something wet and grimy

She looked down, barely seeing the reddish black lines that smeared on the floor. Her mind flashed to the image of Kaede desperately clawing the ground, bleeding out her once beautiful hands. She looked further ahead, noticing how they went deeper down the hallway.

_ If I follow this, would it lead me to Himiko? _

_ \--- _

Kokichi looked around the stadium, finding no sign of a Shuichi’s soul anywhere. He held his chin as he thought hard.

_ Hmm… I found everyone else’s soul roughly in the same spot where they died. If his soul was wandering, we would’ve seen it by now. _

He looked at the end of the obstacle course where he saw the two balcony seats where Kaito and Shuichi were trapped in. If his assumption was correct, Shuichi would be in there.

_ But there’s no way to get up there. The hallway leading to the balcony seats was closed off, so how do I get in? _

He looked underneath the obstacle course, seeing the gigantic climbing wall in front of it. If he managed to climb all the way up, the balcony seats were still too high for him to reach.

_ But if I had someone to help boost me… _

He turned around to find Maki looking underneath the metal bleachers. By the sour expression on her face, he knew that she wasn’t finding anything. 

“Hey Maki!” he yelled, running over to meet her

“What do you want?”

“Aww, don’t be like that,” he sniffled, “I just want you to climb that wall with me and give me a boost. Except this time, I would prefer if you don’t drop me on my head.” 

She huffed in annoyance, “Kokichi, if I leave no one will watch over Rantaro.”

“Oh, the guy is knocked out and restrained! Even if he does wake up, he’s going to have quite some trouble getting out of that barbed wire.”

Maki looked over at Rantaro’s unconscious form as he laid helplessly on the fake grass. 

“Fine, but I’m leaving the moment you manage to get on the balcony.”

“Thanks Makiroll! Can’t do this without you!” he said happily as the two rushed over to start climbing the climbing wall.

As the two silently climbed, Kokichi could feel his heart pounding in his chest. 

_ I couldn’t even bring him back! How can I even save him! Maybe Kaito should- _

He shook his head, forcing the negative thoughts out of his head,

_ No. I decided to be selfish, so I have to commit to it.  _

He pulled himself over the edge, finding his entire body aching with pain as he laid breathless on the floor. Maki just rolled her eyes as she walked past him.

“Get up. We don’t have time to stall.”

Kokichi groaned as he brought himself to his feet. He walked over to Maki as she intertwined her fingers together for him to step on. He reached up for the ledge, finding himself only a few inches away from grabbing onto it.

“Okay, I’m going to jump alright, so give me a tiny boost. 1… 2… 3!”

With a small jump with Maki’s added boost, he successfully grabbed onto the ledge, feeling the burn all the way down his arm as he pulled himself over and fell inside. Stumbling onto his feet, he looked over the edge, giving the Assassin a big thumbs up.

She only nodded before turning back. Before going down, she looked up at the Supreme Leader.

“Hey Kokichi?”

“What’s up?” he asked coyly,

“I know Shuichi meant a lot to you, and he always seemed to be watching you too. For once in your life, don’t lie. Not to Shuichi. Not to yourself.”

And with just that, she headed down the wall, leaving him feeling empty. He let himself take in the view of the stadium and what was probably the last thing the Detective saw himself. He turned around, finding a gray soul sitting patiently on the electric chair, almost as if it was waiting for someone to come all this time.

Kokichi giggled to himself as he stared down at the soul, scooping it up in his hands before sitting down on the chair.

“Heh, who knew you could look this cute, Shumai?” The soul stayed patiently in his hands, the heat emanating in his palms, “You were the only one who could’ve made it all the way to the end. Are you happy with your decision, Shuichi? Sacrificing your life for you friends?”

Even though the TV wasn’t filming them with sound, he remembered hearing the Detective’s painful yells from the bleachers. It wasn’t too hard to connect the dots that he used his life to save his friends and kill a traitor.

“Now that’s the difference between you and me. You’re obviously the good guy in the story, but... Good guys aren’t supposed to die…”

He could feel himself choking up as tears ran down his cheeks.

“You weren’t supposed to die, Shuichi... You weren’t supposed to leave me too… How do I leave this place knowing that the last time I talked to you was about telling you to kill someone? Why did you even listen to me? Don’t you know that I’m a liar? You shouldn’t have trusted in me! Now I can’t even tell you-” he bit back on the last words before deciding against it, “That you are the only one who can match me. You make this boring world interesting to live in. I wanted you to chase me for all eternity, so if I get out of this place, I’ll find a way to bring you back! After all, the story can’t end with the bad guy winning!”

He pulled out the golden net as the soul floated in front of him. The tears flowing freely down his face as he sported a happy smile.

“For now, you have to go. But I’ll come back! I promise!”

With a quick swipe of his hand, the soul exploded in light. All around him, happy memories of the Detective surrounded him. He was a bit taken aback, seeing that a lot of the memories consisted of the Detective watching him from afar or chasing him after a heist. He didn’t expect Maki to be right after all nor for him to enjoy their little game of cat and mouse.

Kokichi wiped away his final tear, feeling his heart a lot lighter than before. He looked down on the ground, seeing a familiar hat on the floor. 

“What a lame hat…”

He laughed, happily putting it on.

\---

The Aikido Master broke into a sprint as she followed the gruesome trail. Her heart pounded in her chest as she saw round off and stop abruptly at the wall. She pressed her hands to the cold stone, feeling it sink deeper into the wall before sliding off to the side revealing a secret room inside.

“Himiko!”

The Magician’s screams were muffled from the rag in her mouth as she was tied down on a dirty operating table. An old man as tall as the ceiling dropped his hand from her cheek before turning around angrily. He waved the a giant pair of scissors at Tenko:

“Who are you? You shouldn’t be here! You’re ruining everything!”

“We just got her back! I’m not going to let you take her again!”

Anger bubbled in the Aikido Master’s chest as she lunged forward. She had never thrown a person as tall as him, but she sure as hell wasn’t going to let that stop her. With a powerful yell, she threw him over her shoulder, throwing him into the lines of shelves behind them. 

She rushed over to Himiko, quickly undoing the straps that tied her down. As much as she wanted to hug the girl for all eternity, she had no idea when the strange man was going to wake up. After removing the rag from the girl’s mouth, she pulled on Himiko’s hand,

“C’mon! We got to go!”

“Wait! We can’t leave yet!” Himiko turned back to the room before flinging open a wooden cabinet. Inside were 6 jars full of glowing vibrant souls, “Tenko, let’s both take 3!”

She nodded before quickly grabbing 3 random jars. The souls inside flew around worriedly as the Doll Maker angrily groaned in pain,

“Why... Why do you reject me? Don’t you want to be beautiful?” The two girls paid no mind as they raced out of the room. The old man soon followed, chasing after them with incredible speed, “Come back here! I won’t let you leave my collection!”

Holding the 3 jars within one arm, Tenko grabbed onto Himiko’s arm, pulling her towards the light of the exit.

“Help!” They yelled, getting the attention of a certain Assassin on the farside of the obstacle course, “There’s someone behind us!”

Maki froze as she saw the insanely tall and ugly man emerge from the dark hallway. She cupped her hands around her mouth,

“Run over here! Over here!” 

She broke into a sprint towards the girls as they dashed through the tile floors. 

_ Shit! They won’t be able to pass through the barb wire! _

She watched as the girls barely dodge the wrath of the large scissors. As she neared the barbed wire, she jumped over, barely making it over the other side. The Doll Maker grinned as he saw her approach:

“Ah, Miss Maki is here too? You will make a beautiful addition to my collection! How does a nice picnic between 3 friends in a flower field sound to you girls?”

The Assassin scowled in response as the two grimaced. She looked over to the Aikido Master,

“Tenko, do you think you can hold him off on your own?”

The girl nodded as she dropped the jars on the ground, holding the golden net like a sword in front of her, as she took a few steps closer to the old man. Every single time, he would lunge at her with the large scissors, she would deflect him just as if it was another Aikido match. 

“Heeheehee! Tenko has a +3 in strength and a +5 in athletics! An old man can’t beat her in battle!” Himiko cheered,

Maki broke out of the wonder of seeing the Magician alive, keeping her attention on increasingly frustrated Doll Maker. As soon as the scissors flew away, she jumped on his back and dug her heels into his back as she pressed the handle of her net to his neck.

“GCK!”

Maki continued to press the net to cut off his airway as the man thrashed underneath her, desperately trying to buck her off. She grinded her teeth together and forced further until he collapsed to the floor. As soon as she was sure that he was dead, she got off. 

She turned around, seeing the horrified faces of the two girls.

“Th-Thank you Maki…” Tenko stammered, trying to appear as unbothered as possible “You saved me once again!”

She could feel her cheeks burn up as Kokichi ran up to them.

“Woah! Did you actually kill him? No fair! I wanted to beat him up too!” he walked up to the corpse, giving it a swift kick to the head, “Boo. It’s not as fun.”

“Anyways, what are those jars? Are those souls?” Maki asked, inspecting one fiery red soul,

“Yeah, we found them all in this guy’s sick surgery room,” Tenko replied, “These must be the souls of the girls in his collection!”

“That would mean that one of them is Kaede, right?” Kokichi said, “Should we even bother saving her? It’s what she gets for bringing us all here.”

There was a moment of silence as everyone thought it over before Himiko spoke up.

“But that would mean she would be trapped here forever, right? When I died, I was so scared. It felt like I was dying over and over again. That’s too cruel! Even for her… She was just as trapped in this place as we were...”

With a deep sigh, Kokichi blandly said: “Okay, fine. I guess we save her too… Since Tenko, Maki and I are the only ones with nets we should catch the souls. Himiko, just open 3 jars at a time.”

Everyone nodded as they held their nets ready. Himiko carefully let out the light green, fiery red and purple soul. Each of them exploded into light, surrounding the group in the happy memories of these unknown strangers. Himiko soon let out the final three: the white soul, the lilac soul and the yellow soul.

_ One of these is Kaede…  _ Tenko thought  _ I could never believe that she was evil. She was my friend who helped me when I was chosen… _

Through watery eyes, the lilac soul hovered in front of her, almost as if wanting the Aikido Master to finish it off.

_ Thank you Kaede. _

The lilac soul exploded into a million pieces. Unlike the rest of the souls that they’ve caught, the sweet sound of the piano roamed in the air. They saw her happy memories of her playing the piano and of the entire class. As the lights disappeared, they all wondered what had happened to the friendly girl that they knew before to lead them to this exact moment.

“That’s it,” Tenko happily said through tears, “We did it.”

“Yeah, I guess we did,” Kokichi said unbothered, “Now I guess we wait for that idiot to get Tsumu-”

A certain ring alerted them as Monokuma’s voice went over the speakers: “You runts have 5 more minutes until the game is over! Don’t forget! You must press the button in the Ruins to leave! If no one presses it, all of you guys will be trapped here!” 

Everyone looked at each other in confusion as the announcement cut off.

“Button? I don’t remember Rantaro telling us about a button?” Kokichi said angrily, “Did he purposefully leave out such an important detail?”

“I-I think we might have a different problem…” Himiko said, face pale, as she pointed past Maki and Kokichi, “He-He’s gone...”

Everyone turned to where she was pointing. The place where the unconscious Adventurer used to be was empty. The only thing in his place were broken barbed wire and the pair of giant scissors from earlier.

“Kaito!” Maki yelled, rushing for the exit.

\---

Kaito wiped away a bead of sweat.

_ I only have 5 minutes to find Tsumugi and get back to the Ruins. Where the hell could she be? _

The sound of sniffling alerted him. He quickly followed the noise, finding that the sound was coming from a mirror at the end of the dead end. 

“Wh-What the hell?” Kaito said,

Inside the mirror was Tsumugi as she sat on the ground, crying, surrounded by reflections of herself.

“Don’t leave me. Kaito, please come back. I’m sorry…”

She muttered as she raked her hands through her messed up hair. Kaito approached the mirror, slamming his hand against the mirror,

“Tsumugi! I’m here! I’m here to save you!” 

Despite his screaming, she didn’t hear him and continued to sob.

“Didn’t I already tell you? She can’t hear you,” Kaito jumped as the glass humanoid stood next to him, “She’s been crying for you for hours! It’s kind of getting annoying!” 

“But she’s alive? Why is she still alive?”

The humanoid-monster cocked it’s head to the side in confusion: “You only left her a few hours ago. She’s not going to die during that, silly! So she’s trapped here until she starves to death!”

Kaito looked away from the thing, slamming his hand into the mirror.

“Damn it! There should be something I could do! I can’t leave her again!”

“But there is something you can do…” He desperately looked at the glass figure as it leaned into his ear to whisper something, “You can kill her and end her misery, then you can catch her soul and she’ll be saved from this godforsaken place. Those who passed can go through the mirrors, but those who don’t can never leave.”

Kaito watched as Tsumugi screamed at her reflections, bursting into another fit of sobs. 

_ I could end her suffering right now, but can I actually kill her? Is there really no other way to save her? I don’t know what to do anymore… _

**[Tsumugi’s fate is in Kaito’s hands! What should he do to help her?]**

**> Kill her**

**> Leave**

**> Find another way**

**Vote Below!**

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> VOTE BELOW:   
> http://www.strawpoll.me/42601934
> 
> I'm back! The writing slump is over! I'm pretty proud of myself and I would love to know your guy's thoughts on this chapter and what you guys voted for! A lot of you guys called the fate of Tsumugi and I'm so happy you guys caught on!
> 
> I'll see y'all next week!


	41. Chapter ??: Saving 正義の英雄

**Kaito chose to [Find Another Way]**

Kaito stared at Tsumugi’s pitiful figure, grinding his teeth together,

“No. I don’t care about what you said. There has to be some way! I won’t leave her here alone!”

The mirror humanoid stepped back as Kaito started aggressively punching the mirror.

“My what an interesting development…” 

Kaito paid no mind to the blood dripping down his knuckles as he continued to punch through the mirror. Every time one mirror shattered into a million pieces, a new untouched one appeared underneath it, and yet the Astronaut still smiled. With every mirror broken, he felt like he was slowly getting closer to the girl.

“Tsumugi! Tsumugi! Do you hear me? I’m coming!”   
  


The girl lifted her head from her hands, looking around frightened.

“Huh?” 

Kaito could feel his smile getting bigger:

_ She could hear me! I must be getting closer!  _

He mercilessly continued to punch, even though he could feel the pieces of glass embedding itself into his skin, deepening each and every wound. Tears rolled down his cheek from the pain, his hands now covered entirely with his own blood.

“Keep going! You have to keep going! You are Kaito Momota, Luminary of the Stars!” he yelled loudly, his entire spirit going into the punches: “The impossible. Is. Possible. As. Long. As. You. Work. Hard. For. It!

With a final punch, the mirror shattered and dropped to the ground, leaving one last mirror in between them. He could feel himself getting light headed as he dropped his hands. Tsumugi used to look so far away, but now she seemed to be right in front of her. Kaito smiled weakly as Tsumugi’s eyes filled with relief at the sight of him. She got up to her feet, pushing her hands to the glass.

“Hey Tsumugi… Sorry it took me a while to come bac-”

**BANG!**

Tsumugi screamed and pounded on the glass as the Astronaut exploded into a million dark pieces. 

“Kaito! Kaito!” 

She stepped back as she looked down the hallway. With smoke still coming out of the barrel, Rantaro lowered the gun. He walked closer to the mirror, causing the Cosplayer to fall backwards.

“Hey Tsumugi,” he said a little too normally as if he didn’t shoot his classmate and was covered with blood, “Do you still want to leave? Even if you’ll experience a thousand more horrors like this?” 

The girl nodded hesitantly, unable to tear her eyes away from the empty look of the once warm class representative. He gave one last warm smile before slamming his gun into the mirror, breaking the last wall to freedom.

Tsumugi unshielded herself: “Th-Th-Thank you Rantaro…”

She looked up, finding the silver barrel pointed straight to her face as the boy looked down on her with no remorse.

“R-R-Rantar-”

**BANG!**

A deep sigh left the Adventurer’s lips as he turned back from the empty mirror coffin. His heart weighed heavily in his body and yet there was a certain kind of relief in all of it.

“I did it…” he whispered to no one but himself, “I’m finally going to go home…”

_ But first, I need to deal with the others. _

Steeling his heart once more, he walked out of the mirror maze.

\---

Maki, Himiko, Tenko and Kokichi barged into the Ruins in a frenzy before the sound of a click alerted them all. Everyone turned towards the green-haired teen as he held the loaded gun right at him, standing right in front of the button.

“You…” The Assassin snarled as she stared down the green-haired teen as he held the loaded gun in his hands.

“H-How did you get that?” Tenko asked nervously, “I thought Maki broke it.”

Rantaro smiled: “You could break as many of these guns as you want, but don’t forget that this is my game. The gun is only necessary in keeping this game fair.” 

“Fair? You call this game fair?” Kokichi spoke up, “You never told us that there was a button we had to press to leave!”

“I don’t really think that’s important right now,” following the Supreme Leader with his gun, “You guys should be more worried about how you guys will reach this button. If one of you guys presses it, we can all still go home.”

“Nyeh… We?” Himiko said, taking her place right next to Tenko

Rantaro only smirked, now training his gun on Maki, as her eyes flared in anger.

“What do you mean by ‘we’?”

“Look up.”

Everyone looked up, finding the two small black cages hanging from the ceiling, each of them containing a soul. One burned a bright purple while the other burned a dull orange.

“What did you do?!” Maki yelled, “What did you do to Kait-”

Monokuma sprouted from the darkness, holding a microphone to his mouth: “Upupupu! Here to announce that you have 1 more minute! You don’t have time to talk about such unnecessary shit!”

And just like his abrupt coming, he disappeared back into the darkness.

Kokichi looked over to Maki nervously, seeing the murderous intent in her eyes, he brought his voice to a whisper.

“Maki, we’ll kill him later, but right now we have to get to that button.” 

With body still trembling with anger, she backed down, silently seething as she glared at the equally murderous look on the Adventurer’s face. As the four fanned slowly out to encompass the gunned teen, all of them had the same thought:

_ Only one of us has to reach that button, but none of us knows who he’s going to target. Should I make a run to press it? But if he decides to shoot me, should I block it? Or should I try to attack him? This is a tough decision… _

**[Determined to take down at least one of them, Rantaro has one shot to capture any of them. What should each member do to press the button and escape and/or save themselves from becoming captured?]**

**VOTE BELOW**

**\---**

**How Voting Will Work**

Rantaro is targetting one of the four surviving participants. Each person will have three options to choose from: [Run], [Block], and [Attack]. If they choose to:

**[Run]**

They will try to run and press the button. One person has to press the button for everyone to escape.

If it  **succeeds** , they press the button and they all are ensured to go home

If they happen to be the target and  **fail** , they will get shot and captured.

**[Block]**

They will defend themselves and save themself from Rantaro’s shot.

If they happen to be the target, they will save themselves from being shot and Rantaro cannot shoot anyone else.

If they are not the target, nothing will happen and they won’t move from their spot.

**[Attack]**

They will attack Rantaro and hope to stop him from shooting anyone. This will also save the target from being shot, but it’s a lot more complicated as it is possible for Rantaro to win the fight.

If they manage to  **succeed** and beat Rantaro, they will turn the gun on Rantaro and save the person being targeted.

If they manage to  **fail** and lose to Rantaro, they will be shot and so will the target

The fight will be based on a dice roll. I will roll for their attack + their fighting ability

Rantaro: +1 Fighting ability

\------------------------------------

Maki: +3 Fighting ability

Himiko: +0 Fighting ability

Tenko: +3 Fighting ability

Kokichi: +1 Fighting ability

Also don’t forget that Himiko and Kokichi are connected! If one of them is captured so is the other! Happy Voting!

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Vote Below:
> 
> Maki's vote: http://www.strawpoll.me/42642501
> 
> Kokichi's vote: http://www.strawpoll.me/42642503
> 
> Himiko's vote: http://www.strawpoll.me/42642506
> 
> Tenko's vote: http://www.strawpoll.me/42642511
> 
> We're finally here dudes! The end of the last game! I'm a little bit scared of how this week's poll will go down, but I'm excited to see the results! I would love to see how you guys will figure out this week's poll! I'd love to know who you guys think the target is and how you guys voted for each poll! Your guy's comments are really helpful for me to figure out whether the polls have been tampered or not and lets me know the true majority vote! 
> 
> If you have any questions about how this process works, I'll definitely answer them as soon as I can!
> 
> I love you guys so much! See you next week!


	42. Chapter 12: The Final Vote

_ 1… _

_ 2… _

_ 3… _

Rantaro breathed one final breathe out before curling his finger around the target and swinging the barrel of the gun towards the Aikido Master. 

_ I’m not going to give you a chance to take this gun away from me! _

**Everyone decided [To Act]**

As Kokichi brought up his net to protect himself and Himiko ran past the gunned student, Maki threw herself on Rantaro’s back, forcing him into a chokehold.

“I won’t let you take anyone else!” she yelled, struggling to keep the taller teenager under her grasp. 

Tenko watched in horror as Rantaro twisted in her arms, the spiteful anger exuding from him as he swung the gun around to face the Assassin.

“No!”

The Aikido Master grabbed the handle, desperately tugging it away from the Adventurer before he could pull the trigger, but in the process of yanking the gun a loud boom echoed through the Ruins as a dark smoke surrounded the three students.

When the smoke had cleared, Rantaro was gone, leaving Tenko and Maki coughing out the dust from his lungs.

“Wh-Where did he go?” Maki asked, “What happened?”

The other girl only looked down in her hands, seeing her own reflection in the silver barrel. She quickly dropped the gun, kicking it on the other side of the room.

“Forget about him, guys! The button!” Kokichi yelled, dropping his net frantically on the ground, “We don’t have time left!”

Everyone turned their eyes towards the button where a certain Magician had her hands proudly on her hips.

“Heeheehee! While you guys were fighting, I used my magic to teleport over here and press the button!”

Everyone let out a breath of relief as they all felt their bodies loosen up. It had felt like they had spent months in this lonely and desolate place, but now they felt like they could finally relax.

“Wait! This story isn’t over just yet!” Monokuma yelled, popping out of nowhere and causing Himiko to scream.

“AHHH! What is that?!” Himiko yelled, “Wait. It’s kind of cute. Are you a familiar?”

She poked the bear’s cheek before quickly retracting it as he batted her hand away.

“I’m Monokuma! The guardian of this Ruin!” Monokuma angrily yelled, “Anyways, I’m here to congratulate you for finally escaping the Ruins with your lives! Not an easy feat, but to also take out both of the Ruins Keepers? You have truly been an entertaining and ruthless bunch! For your accomplishments, you get the last key!”

The dual-colored bear pulled out the last bronze key from his cloak, placing it within Maki’s hands.

“But before you leave, you have one final decision to make!”

Everyone jumped as three black cages dropped from the ceiling. What used to contain the captured souls stood Tsumugi, Rantaro and Kaito behind black bars.

“Kaito!” Maki yelled,

Everyone watched as Kaito tried to yell back, but the only thing that left his mouth was undecipherable static. 

“Upupupu… Don’t you know that the living can’t talk to the dead? Or half-dead I guess.”

Everyone watched in anticipation as Monokuma pulled the dreadful deck of cards from his cloak, eye gleaming mad as he laid out 3 piles of cards.

“One last vote to end the night, folks! You know the rules, but let me remind you!” Monokuma laughed: “Everyone must vote for one of these three people! From there, I will randomly choose one card from the pile and that person will be damned to be this Ruin’s Keeper! And the game will start anew! I will allow each candidate to appeal to the crowd, so keep your ears clean because you’ll be damning someone soon!”

A sudden spotlight shined on Tsumugi as tears flooded down her face.

“Guys, please d-don’t vote for me. You don’t know how lonely and terrible this place is… Being trapped in that maze for a few hours was enough to make a person go insane, so please, please, please don’t vote for m-”

“And that’s enough for Contestant #1! Moving on!”

The spotlight soon shined down onto Rantaro as he grasped onto the bars.

“I-I was trying to kill all of you just a little while ago, but please understand that I had no choice! I was invited to this damn game like all of you, and was chosen to be the Ruins Keeper! Kaede and I never wanted this! We never wanted to hurt any of you! So please! I can’t do this again for a third time! I still need to find my sisters! Please…”

A deep sense of pity and guilt fell on the group as they stared at the broken mess of the Adventurer. The spotlight illuminated Kaito’s cage as he looked sadly at the ground,

“Heh, in the end we’re all victims… None of us wanted this. Not even Rantaro or Kaede. I’m sure that they never wanted to invite us here, but if what Tsumugi said was true, they were desperate to leave… I can’t stand that we have to sacrifice one of our friends to continue this stupid game!” Everyone froze as Kaito looked up, locking them in his sad determined gaze, “So please, don’t vote for Tsumugi or Rantaro. Vote for me instead… I promise I won’t let another game like this happen again! I won’t let anyone else suffer like we did! So please! Vote for me! And Maki Roll, I-” 

The last words to come out of his mouth were garbled as Monokuma soon took the spotlight.

“A deranged maiden. A ruthless survivor. And an idiot hero. Who will be our next Ruins Keeper? And who will leave to see another day? Vote for the last time and determine their fate!”

**VOTE BELOW!**

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> VOTE BELOW:   
> http://www.strawpoll.me/42683071
> 
> We are finally here at the end, guys! It's crazy to see how far we've gotten and I had so much fun reading your comments for the last chapter! 
> 
> If you guys still don't understand how the target was picked, look at the previous chapter's title. If you translate the text, it will show "Hero of Justice" which happens to also be Tenko's title. 
> 
> I'd love to know your thoughts on this chapter and who you guys voted for! I have a feeling I know who it is, but you guys always end up surprising me.


End file.
